Vinicius finds the way

Vinicius has found his way to the goal at the start of the 2021-22 season and does not want to get lost in the jungle of inaccuracies again and rebound goals in which he lived his first three courses as a madridista. The Brazilian has started the course as a substitute, surpassed in the Madrid bands by Hazard and Bale, but he is rebelling with a level of success in the auction, his historic Achilles heel, which has already sparked a debate in Madrid about the relevance or not of already opting for a position in the starting eleven.

Carlo Ancelotti, to all this, something was smelled. Or at least he hoped to smell it, because his intention from the beginning of the preseason was to work thoroughly with Vinicius to sharpen the Brazilian's fang, to give a good ending to all that orchestra of sprints and dribbles that make up Vini's game and to which he only lacked the necessary surgical precision in the final meters. The player arrived late to the preparation after being a finalist in the Copa América, but has assimilated concepts quickly.

“Vinicius has quality, that's important. A great scorer I don't know if it will be … He likes to play on the wing and inside the area it is more complicated for him, but with his quality he can score many goals from afar and in the one against one “, Carletto explained after Levante's home draw. However, the Italian does not feel pressured by the circumstances nor is he forced to give him the title against Betis, next Saturday in Seville. “It is not important to start the game, the important thing is to determine it. And he has done it with his quality.” It is clear that the branches do not prevent Ancelotti from seeing the forestThe forest in this case being the evidence that Vinicius's qualities stand out even more in the second half, the territories of laden twins and minds clouded by effort.

It is the coach's job to distinguish the chaff from the grain, in this and in everything else. The player's is to clean up that scenario to clarify decision-making, and without a doubt Vinicius is outstanding in that task, so far: he is the best white scorer, with three goals in three games, three goals achieved in just 55 minutes, as a refreshment in the second half against Alavés and Levante. Numbers from another planet for a player who, in his first 118 games for white, barely scored 15 goals, several with the fortune of the rebound as his main ally.

Vinicius does not require such luck this season, at least for the moment: he has fired four times and all four he did on goal. Pacheco denied him his first goal of the season in Vitoria, and his teammate and friend Rodrygo his first assist, arriving late to a free ball after an excellent play by Vini on the baseline. The former Flamengo player maintains the spark in dribbling (three good out of six attempts) and adds precision with the ball (20 good passes out of 24).

Vinicius: “Train and work. That doesn't change”

Ancelotti focuses on the hits, on achieving that what for Vinicius was traumatic ends up being automatic, like someone who changes gear when circulating. “I have told him that it is difficult to score after four, five, six touches. The great scorers score after one or two touches., and that is what he has done “, Carletto commented after his so much header in Mendizorroza. Also in sharpening his physical power in speed, as in his first goal in the Ciutat de Valencia: he took advantage of an excellent pass from Casemiro to start from his own field and appear alone before Aitor There, at last, he gave the necessary touch, not too early and not too late.

“We are training the uncheckers a lot, that is what the coach asks me and I did. I keep training and working, I do it from the first day I arrived here. And I am not going to change that.” Vinicius boasts of the everyday nature of this good moment, which integrates him fully into the team. Last year, during a game in Germany against Borusia Mönchengladbach, the cameras captured an unpleasant conversation in which Benzema and Mendy they commented on the scant relevance of handing over the ball to the Brazilian, for what he was going to do with it. In Valencia, Karim gave Vini the ball with which he would score his second goal, an unlikely thread with hardly any angle. Because how not to look for this new Vinicius, who finally rides towards the goal like Madrid always expected from a player who, despite his 21 years, the 45 million of his price continues to place the measuring stick well above.