Gone are the question marks surrounding Vinicius’ ability in the final third, note Marca. The Brazilian has become a key part of Carlo Ancelotti’s offence at Real Madrid, receiving the ball 92 times during their 6-1 evisceration of Mallorca in La Liga – the most of any Madrid player aside from the defence.
It was a similar story against Valencia, when the forward touched the ball 53 times, three more than the peerless Luka Modric. The Croatian actually sought out the Brazilian seven times, more than the five times each he played the ball to Fede Valverde or Karim Benzema. That means something.
Another key lesson against Valencia was his positioning; Vinicius took up the left wing, dominating that side of the pitch and displaying a strong understanding with left-back Nacho, who found him 14 times. Against Mallorca, Valverde and Miguel Gutierrez were the pair who sought him out constantly.
It’s led to a state of affairs where Eden Hazard, the big-money signing of the summer of 2019, is going to find it very difficult to recover his spot in Carletto’s favoured starting lineup, all the more so given the emergence of Marco Asensio as an effective mediapunta against Mallorca, where he scored a hat-trick.
