Real Madrid superstar slammed after loss to Barcelona

Real Madrid were the heavy favourites coming into the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi finals against Barcelona. Xavi’s side had been in poor form, coming off of a two-game losing streak and they were missing several key players like Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele. On the other hand, Andreas Christensen was left on the bench as well.

Thus, this was Real Madrid’s chance to not only get a win but also a big one. Instead, Carlo Ancelotti’s side ended up losing 1-0 at home, and now have a mountain to climb in the second leg away at Camp Nou.

They failed to register a shot on target, despite having 13 attempts. And that is despite coming up against a makeshift Barcelona defence which had Marcos Alonso playing as a centre-back.

Real Madrid fans had placed a lot of hopes on the shoulders of Vinicius Junior coming into this game. But it is safe to say that the Brazilian winger disappointed and then some.

Real Madrid superstar slammed after loss to Barcelona

Vinicius simply could not get things going on the day. He has had trouble against Ronald Araujo in the past, and that continued here as well. It just feels like the Uruguayan defender has a psychological edge over him at this point of time.

Unsurprisingly, Vinicius’ lacklustre display led to memes and comments about him being in Araujo’s pocket. But there was another incident on the night, that was heavily criticised.

Vinicius tangled with Frenkie de Jong in the first half of the game and then took him to ground. It was a pretty clear yellow card to be very honest and that is what made the Brazilian’s reaction more surprisingly. He argued with the referee and even pointed a finger at him. On another day, a different referee might have shown him a second yellow card for it and Real Madrid could have been down to 10 men.

Vinicius has earned a lot of plaudits in recent times. But this was not a good performance from him at all. Bad days at the office can happen though, and it is important that he bounces back from this and hopefully makes a difference in the second leg.