Real Madrid: 3 things to learn from the loss to RB Leipzig

2. Vinicius has learnt how to be effective even when he’s having a bad game

There was a lot of talk on about Vinicius being terrible on the pitch in Germany, and how he is one of those players responsible for the loss, on social media. To some extent, the criticism is justified, as Vini did miss a tap-in, and had a bad game on the ball. He made a lot of runs behind the defence, but Leipzig’s defenders managed to keep him silent for the most part of the game, with Gvardiol, in particular, having a great time against him.

There was a similar discussion after the Sevilla game as well, and Vini being the attacking leader in Benzema’s absence does have to do something with it. This criticism does show that people are expecting him to be perfect in all aspects, but the positive work done by Vini is being ignored in the process.

Vini brought the game back to life on Tuesday with a beautiful and well-placed headed goal just before the time and tried to lay the base for another comeback. Unfortunately, Real Madrid and Vini weren’t able to build on that foundation, but that shouldn’t make someone ignore his goal. He also set up the victory against Sevilla on Saturday with two good assists to Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez respectively.

What’s more impressive is the fact that 8 out of his 13 goal contributions this season have come when Real Madrid was either drawing or losing the game. One should highly value this stat because this is something that speaks loads about the player’s ability to step up when needed, during high-pressure situations.

Agreed that he isn’t dropping 10/10 performances in every game, as fans are expecting him to, but he has learnt the way to be effective in a game even while he’s having a bad time, and this is something that’ll help himself and the team in the long run, particularly in the league. He now has 8 goals and 5 assists in the competition, and these numbers will only become better.