Real Madrid star once again shows his destabilising skills despite a far-from-perfect performance | OneFootball

After getting eliminated from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Arsenal with a humiliating 5-1 aggregate scoreline, Real Madrid returned to action in La Liga with a match against Athletic Club.

The Merengues needed to win this game if they were to remain in contention for the league title, as Barcelona were already seven points ahead of them.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men continued trying to get a goal throughout the game, but it was only in stoppage time when Federico Valverde launched a rocket of a shot into the goal to give his side a 1-0 win.

Real Madrid generated a lot of chances to score in this game, but were visibly missing Kylian Mbappe as they struggled to finish these chances.

Without the Frenchman on the field, it was Vinicius Junior who led the team’s attack, and even though he was far from his best, the Brazilian star still showcased his destabilizing skills in this game.

Vinicius could easily have been the difference-maker for his side in this match, as he put the ball in the back of the net in the second half. However, his goal was ruled out as Endrick was offside when the ball was sent into the box.

But throughout the game, there was no shortage of effort from the Samba star to make things happen for his side in the opposition box, even though the Basque side did well to keep his influence limited.

As Sofascore statistics show, Vinicius played the full 90 minutes in this game and got on the ball 73 times. However, he attempted only 33 total passes, of which only 20 were accurate, thus recording a 61% passing success rate. Furthermore, he completed only 5 of his 14 attempted dribbles and lost possession a whopping 33 times.

But on the other hand, he was also the Real Madrid player creating the most danger in the opposition half. He put in 6 key passes in this game while also creating 1 big chance. Furthermore, 2 of his 8 attempted crosses into the box successfully found their target. Both of his 2 attempted long balls were also accurate, and he also won 9 of the 19 duels he was engaged in.

Still, Vinicius would definitely have wanted to get a goal to his name, especially to showcase his ability to lead the Los Blancos’ forward line even without Kylian Mbappe. He will once again have the chance to do so as Mbappe is unlikely to return to fitness for the upcoming league game against Getafe, and hopefully, the Brazilian will take this chance to put in another excellent performance.