AFCON 2025
By Chima Azu
Real Madrid’s Brazilian sensation Vinicius Jr. is in the form of his life currently scoring seven goals already in twelve La Liga games, that is one short of his total in three seasons combined with Los Blancos and he also has two in three Champions League games and you have the feeling that there is many more to come from the 21 year old.
Real Madrid defeated Elche away over the weekend and they did it without their top scorer Benzema, but Vinicius stepped in and made sure they didn’t miss him by scoring two wonderful goals to keep his team in contention for the league title and Madrid still has a game in hand. His two goals in the Champions League was in the whitewash against Shakhtar Donetsk where he was a nightmare for the opposing defense with his blistering pace and dribbling past his markers with ease.
This season Vinicius looks like a totally different player who has raised his game in virtually every aspect. Evidently is his scoring ability in front of goal. In his first three seasons, he was always being accused for being wasteful in front of goal and his goal ratio was a testament to that. He scored a total of eight goals in his entire three seasons with Madrid and also struggled for game time. He was also accused of being selfish which made him fall out with his teammate Benzema. The Frenchman was caught on camera in the tunnel at half-time in a Champions league game against Borussia Monchengladbach in 2020 telling his fellow countryman Mendy not to pass the ball to Vini because he felt that the Brazilian was playing against them.
However, in this campaign we are seeing a reborn Vinicius Jr. who now scores with ease, knows when to pass to his teammate (unlike him in the past always wanting to dribble when his teammate is in a scoring position), and his always a torn in the flesh of opposing defenders. His decision making around the box is now far better than before, little wonder why he has seven goals and three assist to his name already. Looking at his recent displays and with the season still in its early days, if he stays out of injury one can easily say that there is more to come from the former Flamengo striker. Also, with Benzema in splendid form as well he and Vini Jr. would make Real Madrid contenders for titles this season.
