Vinicius and ten more

It was Vinicius marking his work of art in the Kiev Olympic and heading towards where the Madrid bench was located, with a couple of gestures. At the end of the match, it was Vinicius himself who explained those gestures to whom: “They were for the coach, who always asks me to score many goals and be focused on the game. Sometimes I fail there and he always speaks to me from the outside: ‘I’m going to take you away, I’m going to take you away’, to stay focused and to score more goals for us. ” The Brazilian outlined a huge smile, aware of the repercussion of the two goals he had scored in the Ukrainian capital.

Everything seems to come out of the mouth of the young Brazilian in this campaign. Led by Ancelotti, Vinicius has already scored more goals (seven) than last season, in which he scored one less, six, in 49 games: that is, with 38 fewer games … Gone are just three goals (in 31 games) in his first season in white (2018-19: we must remember that he started in the ranks of Castilla, sent by Lopetegui to adapt to Spanish football) and his five of the campaign (2019-20, in 38 games ). The curiosity is that he has those seven goals in just 11 games. If you look closely, it turns out that His seven goals have been achieved in 17 shots on goal (he adds 25 shots in total so far this season and in the two competitions in which he has participated so far, the League and the Champions League): an average of 41.17%.

And it is that Vinicius is another. From the hand of Ancelotti he has metamorphosed into an effective player facing the opposite goal. The veteran coach has been able to give him his space and the Brazilian is giving it back with game, goals, assists … “danger”, as defined by Benzema. With Ancelotti, Vinicius has started since the third league match. It has not come down from there. He started as a substitute against Alavés and Levante, but his three goals (especially his scoring display against Granotas) They have turned him not into a permanent fixture, but into Vinicius and ten more: of 990 possible minutes this season he has played 834, 84.24% of the total. More significant: of the last nine meetings that Madrid has played between the League and the Champions League, Vinicius has completed five. If you want to narrow the circle further: of the last six games, he was only substituted against Espanyol in the 72nd minute of the match …

Gone are those times in which Lopetegui sent him to Castilla upon his arrival in European football. With the current Sevilla coach, he barely had minutes dressed in the first team shirt: two games in which he barely played 12 minutes (two in a derby against Atlético and 10 against Alavés). With Solari he participated in 31 games, totaling 2,038 minutes: he completed eight games, two more than he currently has. Horrific is his statistic with Zidane. Under the French coach he played 4,659 minutes spread over 90 games. He only completed 16 games … just 17.77% …

On Sunday comes the Classic, where he was one of the protagonists of the last one held at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium so far. It was on March 1, 2020: he received a ball from Kroos, outlined down the left wing and beat Ter Stegen after beating Piqué. Madrid began to secure the 33rd League. Now, at the Camp Nou, Vinicius arrives fired at the official Classic number 247. And Vinicius and ten more will appear in the white eleven …