Real Madrid loves to highlight its experience of major events but it owes its 14th Champions League to a novice: the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, 21, author of the goal of victory against Liverpool (1-0), Saturday at St Denis. The striker unlocked the final by taking over, alone at the far post, the center of Federico Valverde (59th). He was the unexpected hero of this poster, as Gareth Bale had been in 2018 during Madrid’s last European title. It was already against the “Reds”, in kyiv (3-1).
Entering on the hour mark, the Welshman had scored twice at the end of the match. “Vini” also came at an unexpected moment for the merengue club which was suffering in the game.
Apart from a small bridge over Ibrahima Konaté (35th), he wandered for a long time in the English camp without finding solutions, just like Karim Benzema, deprived of opportunities. He took advantage of a defensive oversight from Trent Alexander-Arnold to hit the mark on the Spaniards’ first shot on target. Its effectiveness sticks to the identity of an unsinkable Real, which has never been as strong as when it was up against the wall this season. Until then, he had not scored during the “coming up” against Paris SG (8th return, 3-1), Chelsea (return quarter, 2-3 ap) and Manchester City (half, 3-1 ap).
Benzema favored for the Ballon d’Or
But that did not prevent him from making a place for himself, in the left lane, alongside the insatiable Benzema, author of a stratospheric 2021-2022 exercise (44 goals in 46 matches) which places him as the favorite for the next Ballon d’Or. “They get along very well. Time has helped them both to get along,” admitted their coach Carlo Ancelotti at the beginning of May.
An outstanding dribbler touted as a future ‘crack’ when he played for Flamengo, Vinicius has made progress in finishing, with 22 goals in all competitions this season, up from six last year.
He tied for third in the latest La Liga goalscoring chart. Without question, Vinicius has revealed himself this season, after three mixed first years for the one who was bought for 45 million euros in 2018.
He is “a player who has something special in his feet and in his body,” Ancelotti said at the end of November. “I knew that in dribbling, one on one, he is very strong, but what surprised everyone was his ability to score goals.
Its effectiveness would almost make fans forget the non-arrival of Kylian Mbappé, whom Real was courting, but who chose to extend to Paris SG until 2025.
Or the controversy of October 2020, when “KB9” made the headlines of the Spanish press with this advice slipped to his compatriot Ferland Mendy at half-time of a C1 match: “He does what he wants. Brother, don’t play with him! My mother’s life. He plays against us!”.
The old phenomenon of precocity now has its place in the long history of Real Madrid, like a seasoned veteran. And for him, it is far, the end…