Vinícius and Rodrygo blasted Valencia and report: we’re back! This is what the fans want

There has been a bit of criticism of late. Vinicius and Rodrygo remained below expectations in terms of performance, goals and assists. But in the match against Valencia, the Brazilian duo silenced all the critics.

Vinícius missed four games at the start of the season due to injury, but even so, his record before the Valencia game was not glorious – 9 games, 2 goals, 1 assist. Very underwhelming for a player of his calibre.

It was even worse for Rodrygo. He played 12 games in which he scored only once and added a single assist. For a player who played the vast majority of the games in the starting lineup and was supposed to be the team’s workhorse, that’s a very poor record.

At least Vinícius wasn’t criticised for his performance, as he showed great effort, created chances for his teammates, but just didn’t “stick” as they say in the end. But Rodrygo has been pilloried a lot.

The season before last, he finally established himself as an amazing joker, and last season he earned a solid place in the starting lineup. After Benzema’s departure, he was expected to take over as an important player to rely on this year. But his performances since the start of the season have been pretty poor and he has been criticised a lot and deservedly so.

Already this week’s Champions League game against Braga suggested that the Brazilian duo are slowly getting back into form. For the first time, both Vinícius and Rodrygo scored a goal and an assist in the same game.

A return to form

Against Valencia, however, they showed their full potential. Dani Carvajal started the match with a beautiful goal in the third minute, before half-time Rodrygo found Vinícius in the whitewash, who used his shoulder to make it 2-0.

The big blow came after half-time. Any effort to reverse the result was smashed by the Brazilian duo within 2 minutes. First, in the 49th minute, Rodrygo passed the ball to Vinícius, who fired just wide of the post, and a minute later Rodrygo picked out a misplaced cross from the visitors and put the ball in the net.

It was 4:0 and Real Madrid were able to finish the match in peace. In the 84th minute, Rodrygo added his second goal of the game to make it 2+2. He had only one goal and one assist in his previous 12 games.

“We’re back! This is what the Madrid fans want. If they are happy, so are we,” Rodrygo said in his post-match interview.

Source: La Liga