The dazzling but flawed Brazilian teenager ended his latest goal drought to resurrect Real Madrid and leave Barça deflated
First Casemiro told Vinícius Júnior where to go, then Toni Kroos showed him. And so, as it turned out, did Gerard Piqué although that wasn’t what he wanted. With 19 minutes left in the clásico it all came together and the next thing they knew, this kid was standing there in the middle of the mayhem showing everyone the badge on his shirt, a massive grin on his face. There was resurrection and redemption for all of them, and for Vinícius especially. There was a huge roar too, the ball in the net and Real Madrid top of the table, the league they could have lost back in their hands. The psychosis had been blown away: that tragic week they feared ended in triumph.
The goal that allowed Madrid to beat Barcelona in the league for the first time since 2016 began with Kroos slowing to a halt on the left, seeing the pass before anyone else did. After Manchester City had beaten Madrid, the Catalan daily Sport had cheered: “Pep, your hand shows the way”; three days later, Kroos’s hand actually did. As he paused, he pointed, wrist waggling as he repeatedly signalled the space before him. Go, he was saying: go, go, go. Go is what Vinícius does best – what he doesn’t always is the next bit – so off he went, faster than anyone on the field.
Written by Sid Lowe
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/mar/02/vinicius-silences-ridicule-madrid-storm-barcelona-clasico under the title “
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