VIDEO: Rodrygo showed great ball handling and finished a perfect counter attack with a beautiful lob!

Real Madrid are through to the knockout stages of the Champions League after winning their fourth consecutive match in the millionaire competition. Although Carlo Ancelotti’s charges struggled to score goals at the weekend, they scored nicely in Wednesday’s match against Braga, thanks in particular to the Brazilian duo of Vinícius and Rodrygo.

Rodrygo has been the target of criticism throughout this season

The Brazilian show at the Stantiago Bernabéu. That’s what you could call Wednesday night, which once again belonged to the European Cup. If there was talk of poor offensive productivity over the weekend, Carlo Ancelotti’s charges swept all speculation off the table.

In Sunday’s league encounter, Real Madrid struggled shooting at home. Despite having a clear advantage in the match against Rayo Vallecano, the offensive power of Los Blancos came up empty this time.

After a goalless draw, Real handed the top spot in the La Liga table to this year’s wonderkid from Girona. After the match, voices began to be heard about the lack of scoring potential in Carlo Ancelotti’s team.

The criticism was particularly aimed at Brazilian acquisition Rodrygo, who had secured a place in Real’s packed offensive line-up with his excellent performances in the previous two seasons. However, so far this season he has been a shadow of that player from previous seasons, scoring just 2 goals in 17 games, to which he has added a single assist.

However, it was in Wednesday’s match against Braga that he was given an opportunity by the Italian strategist right from the opening whistle and the still only 22-year-old Brazilian rewarded him with a superb performance.

Although the match didn’t start ideally for the home side Real, as the Portuguese team played a penalty kick as early as the sixth minute. However, Lunin, who replaced the injured Kepa just minutes before kick-off, made a wonderful save from Djal.

but the 22-year-old Brazilian gave an extraordinary performance and his goal for 3:0 was especially worth it

After less than half an hour, it was Rodrygo who shone for the first time in the match. His perfect run was not intercepted by the Braga defence and after his back pass, Brahim Díaz opened the net for the first time in the match.

After the change of sides, it was one-sided football. In the 58th minute, Vinícius took advantage of Lucas Vazquez’s cross from the centre of the box, and with a great move, he dispossessed the defender and headed the ball into the goalkeeper’s back of the net to increase the lead to 2:0.

But the finest moment of the match came just three minutes later, when Real took advantage of one of the amazing counter-attacks they had threatened with throughout the match.

After a quick counter, the Brazilian offensive duo completely dismantled the visiting team’s disorganized defense. A pass from Vinícius, which came on the heels of his compatriot, was beautifully handled by Rodrygo and with an even more beautiful arc he adjusted the score to the final 3:0.

Real thus secured their qualification to the knockout stage of the Champions League by winning all four matches in Group C. But Rodrygo in particular showed an extraordinary performance and silenced his critics, at least for the moment.

Source: UEFA, Real Madrid, Twitter/X