It happened almost two years ago. Madrid arrived at the Etihad to play the round of 16 second leg match against Manchester City. It came with a strong disadvantage: at the Bernabéu they had lost 1-2, after the English came back from an initial goal by Isco, and furthermore, they could not count on Sergio Ramos, who had been sent off while committing a penalty on Gabriel Jesús. The task felt serious and hard...
Champions League
*Data updated as of April 25, 2022
At that time, it was a palpable fact that Vinicius had more prestige and more support among the Madrid fans than Zidane, then white coach. The French coach did not finish betting definitively on the young Brazilian player, who saw how in recent weeks he had disappeared again from the elevens of Marseillais. Hazard’s return influenced something but very little, given that several games before the Belgian’s return it was already clear to Zizou that his ideal attacking trident was the one formed by Lucas-Benzema-Asensio. And we must not forget the famous episode at the Gladbach stadium in which Benzema, Zinedine’s extension arm on the field, confessed to Mendy (without knowing that the microphones were recording) that he was desperate with the decisions that Vini was making in the playing field.
The feeling between Zidane and Vinicius finished cooling down on that afternoon of August 7, in the second leg of the match. At that time, Hazard was in business as usual because of his ongoing physical problems. Not one day, not another day… Since we had to come back from 1-2 at the Bernabéu, Vinicius harbored many hopes to be a starter and to be able to demonstrate in a great showcase like the Champions League and against Guardiola’s City that he was already prepared to make the leap to the elite of European football.
But when a couple of hours before, as usual, Zizou told his men the chosen starting eleven, Vinicius fell apart. He finally bet on Hazard. The Brazilian had a negative reaction, affected by the frustration of the substitution, and began to look at his mobile instead of concentrating on Zizou’s talk with the players who were going to take the field. That detail did not like the technician, although there were no words between them. That yes, the worst Hazard of the year was not substituted until the 82nd minute and Vini did not even jump to warm up. He was unprecedented in the key game of the season…
Two years later he arrives again at the Etihad, but with a different role. He now arrives as the undoubted starter, forming a couple with Benzema. It will be the object of attention from the ‘citizen’ defense, although his main task will be to help Karim score as many goals as possible, as he did against Chelseaboth in the first leg and in the second leg, where he assisted the Frenchman in two of his four goals against the current European champion…