The story of Vinícius: From the laughing stock of jokes to the driving force of Real Madrid. What’s behind his rise?

Last year, Vinícius Junior was often the target of taunts from fans, both rivals’ and even his own. His finishing was truly dismal, but Carlo Ancelotti has literally worked a miracle with the young Brazilian in just a few months.

Vinícius faced a lot of criticism, he was often the target of various meme pictures, the main reason was his trifling finishing. The skilful Brazilian always excelled in speed, in dribbling, but as soon as he got into a goal scoring opportunity, it was as if he had his cleats on backwards.

In his first season, he scored two goals in 18 games, but in the 2019/20 championship season, he contributed just three goals and one assist. Last year he played 35 games, most of them in the starting lineup, and still ended the season with a poor 3+3 record. That’s really not enough for a Real Madrid winger, especially when you compare how Cristiano Ronaldo helped the White Ballet from that position with his numbers.

But this year, so far, he is relishing all the criticism. Or rather, he doesn’t relish them, as there are none. And there can’t be any. In fact, Vinícius has scored 5 goals and added 2 assists in 8 games, and it’s already his best season, according to the numbers. He added 2 goals and 1 assist in the Champions League.

His performances are also impressive. Vinícius dribbles, he runs away from opponents, he works perfectly with Karim Benzema and these two are the biggest danger for all opponents right now. What a big shift from the mocked youngster not so long ago.

But where has his rise come from? Perhaps few will benefit from a change of coach as much as Vinícius. Not that Zinedine Zidane was a bad coach, moreover, he had great confidence in the young Brazilian. However, Vinícius’ style of play didn’t fit the way Zidane wanted to play with Real.

Zidane relied on ball possession, a lot of passing and solid defending. So when Vinícius got the ball on the wing, he was often occupied by two or three opposing players and didn’t do much. Playing into a closed block is not his strongest suit.

However, Ancelotti has set Real Madrid up with attacking, fast and aggressive football. The Merengues don’t dwell so much on combinations in their own half of the pitch, as soon as they get the ball they immediately fly forward. And that’s just the ticket for the São Gonçalo speedster.

And the finish? When Ancelotti came to Madrid, he reportedly had several interviews and individual training sessions with the youngster, focused specifically on finishing. He advised the Brazilian to play simply in the penalty area and to finish from one or two touches, as he often overplayed his chances.

Vinícius took this seemingly simple advice to heart and it made a huge difference. As soon as he gets into the penalty area, he works the ball as hard as he can and immediately shoots. In previous seasons, he often struggled to drive the ball into an empty net until it almost seemed more important for him to round a player with a cross than to score a goal.

Words of praise for Vinícius were also found by Gerard Piqué, the Barcelona stopper, who otherwise has great antipathy towards Real Madrid and doesn’t speak nicely of the hated rival.

“Vinícius is very fast and explosive. He is a classic winger who is one of the best players in the world in one-on-one duels, ” Piqué told Spanish media ahead of Real Madrid’s duel with Barcelona.

And it is in El Clásico that Vinícius could be decisive. Barcelona don’t have much security at right-back, the 21-year-old Brazilian will be defended by either Oscar Mingueza or Sergi Roberto. We will find out whether Vinícius Junior will confirm his form in the biggest game in the world on Sunday at 16:15.

Source: Livesport