Vinicius Junior’s struggles rumbled on, with Real Madrid’s Brazilian star hauled over the coals once again tonight.
The winger started Real Madrid’s Champions League tie against AEK Athens. Once again, he came up short.
Real Madrid nearly came unstuck in Greece, trailing 2-1 with a quarter of an hour to play. Then “Los Blancos” rediscovered their storied European spirit, roaring back to win 3-2 in thrilling fashion.
Vinicius, though, was under immense pressure. Fresh off a four-match suspension in La Liga, he was handed a start tonight by head coach José Mourinho, and he failed to seize the moment.
Deployed on the left wing, which pushed Yan Diomande over to the right flank, the former Flamengo man never convinced in this one.
Diomande has dazzled in recent weeks from that left-wing berth, so Vinicius had plenty to prove in Athens. He made no difference whatsoever. That stings all the more because, unlike his team-mates, he had enjoyed a rest while sitting out those league games.
He created nothing, and his dribbling lacked precision.
Are Real Madrid better without Vinicius?
Unsurprisingly, the Spanish press came down hard on the Brazilian.
The newspaper “AS” said that “his performance was dismal in the first half. In the second half, he tried, but he did not succeed. Right now, Diomande is well ahead of him in the starting line-up”.
Usually so measured, former Real Madrid player Jorge Valdano tore into the Brazilian on a Movistar television programme. “The word acceptable does not apply to a player like Vinicius,” he said. “He put in very little effort, and rarely succeeded”.
He went on: “He made only one good move. We cannot recall anything of note from his match tonight. For a player who maintained that exceptional level for a long time, this is very little. This lacklustre performance from Vinicius will not help him reclaim the place that Diomande has secured”.
Suspended for this week’s trip to Valencia, Vinicius no longer counts as a key man in Mourinho’s ideal Real Madrid line-up. The newspaper “Marca” notes that “it may seem easy to point the finger at Vinicius and blame him for Real Madrid’s problems, but it is no coincidence that Mourinho’s team’s level drops when the Brazilian is on the pitch”.
The same paper also flagged his lack of defensive graft.
Vinicius is mired in a slump he is finding hard to shake. It leaves him in a tricky spot once his suspension ends, with a place on the bench the likeliest outcome.