He’s worse than his teammates in other competitions as well
Vini Jr is already in Mbappe’s shadow – he has ONE league goal since November and ceases to be Real Madrid leader
“I’ll do it 10 times if I have to. They’re not ready,” Vinicius Junior wrote on his social media when he failed to win the Ballon d’Or in the autumn.
But it seems the Brazilian has slowed down on the way to his goal and has not been able to find consistency at Real Madrid for several months in a row now.
If you look at the last matches, the stats are not impressive and are very different from what they were before – two (three if you count his second assist v Man City as per UEFA) assists in nine matches seems too few for a player of Vini’s calibre.
The decline in performance is the outcome of two important reasons. The first one is the inconsistency that prevented him from keeping the rhythm – the Brazilian himself is 50/50 to blame for this. He is not to blame for the injury that made him miss four games in November-December and gradually gaining fitness afterwards.
However, Vinicius is to blame for the suspension that came at the moment when he was just reaching his usual peak. At first, he got suspended in December because of too many yellows, then because of a straight red against Valencia, and then again for an extra yellow in the Champions League.
This torn segment eventually gave the following comparative statistics in La Liga where the difference between ‘before’ and ‘after’ is clearly visible.
The winger had been on a goalless streak since November until the Girona clash a week and a half ago. After that, he didn’t score again at the weekend – and Real Madrid lost to Real Betis, missing out on crucial points in the fight for La Liga.
Moreover, the decline also applies to deeper metrics.
Among the positives, we can mention the first leg against Manchester City at the Etihad when Vinicius beautifully responded to the opponent’s mocking banner, and the brace against Red Bull Salzburg – but these are rare cases of top performances. He used to show it on a regular basis before.
The second reason for the decline is Kylian Mbappe’s adaptation to the leading role in Vini’s absence. The Frenchman began to churn out goals one after another and, accordingly, made people talk about this ‘shadow’. It’s a familiar term in football which was used for the first time 8-9 years ago in regards to Neymar’s role at Barcelona with Lionel Messi on the team.
The most important thing for Carlo Ancelotti is that so far, it has not escalated into any conflicts in the team, and the star performers, on the contrary, get along well with each other. However, knowing the Brazilian’s character, it is far from certain that he is ready to put up with his form and the loss of influence over the long haul.
On the contrary, Vini’s comeback will perhaps benefit the team – because, for example, the Whites clearly lack his effective actions and have already squandered 10 points in La Liga within a month, falling behind Barca.
Meanwhile, there are three star attacking partners at the forefront – Mbappe, Rodrygo and Bellingham have better stats.
So, he needs to step up in the decisive part of the season, or at least today, in the derby against Atletico Madrid, to minimise talks of the infamous ‘shadow’.