Real Madrid: 5 players who must shine against Atalanta in the first leg

LW Vinicius Junior

Although Vinicius Junior hasn’t brought his “A” game in the Champions League, he’s had a couple of important moments in the 2020-2021 campaign for Real Madrid. Vini provided the game-winning assist for fellow youngster Rodrygo Goes against Inter Milan, and he even salvaged a goal in the woeful first loss to Shakhtar Donetsk, giving Los Blancos hopes of a comeback.

With Eden Hazard, Rodrygo, and Karim Benzema out, Vinicius Junior is Real’s best forward. Marco Asensio had another stinker on Saturday against Real Valladolid, and while Vinicius was not great himself, he was certainly better than either Asensio or Mariano Diaz.

And in the three games before Valladolid, Vinicius was quite good. He had an assist at Getafe, won four dribbles and four fouls at Huesca, and created more problems for Valencia’s defense. He has been taking more defenders on recently, and while he went quiet at Valladolid, we can’t forget that he scored the winning goal against that same team earlier this season.

Vinicius is an even bigger X-Factor for Los Blancos in this Champions League, especially with so many question marks up top for Zinedine Zidane’s men. If Vini plays with confidence, he could be the most influential player on the pitch in this one.