Real Madrid fans have had to hear a lot of unfair criticisms about Vinicius Junior over the past couple of years, and it has felt like throughout his career, the mass media has ignored his major achievements, including all of his record assists in the Champions League and his insane performances in the Champions League knockouts as a two time champion.
Even this year, Vinicius Jr. is leading all players besides Harry Kane in terms of goals scored, and yet he is seen as a liability by the average pundit. And they have the gall to say that he does not press even though he rated in the top five of all forwards in Europe's top five leagues in terms of pressing triggers.
Well, after scoring a brace against Haiti to show that he is as good for Brazil as Real Madrid, Vinicius Jr. took down the critics again with another brace in a 3-0 win over Scotland to seal the group for the Selecao- and what should have been a hat trick if it were not for another embarrassingly soft VAR overturn by this useless group of referees behind the monitor at the World Cup.
Vinicius Jr. is clearly not overrated
Real Madrid fans have been screaming all year long about how Vinicius Jr. is underrated in terms of his ability to find the back of the net, and he was so, so smart in the box to take his chances. He used the momentum of the goalkeeper against him to tap the ball gently with the outside of his boot before passing the ball into the open net. Then the second goal, he showed better instincts than some No. 9's, peeling off the back shoulder of the defenders to calmly deposit the ball with his head into another open net.
Vinicius Jr. showed an all around game up top that a lot of people have been ignoring but that Real Madrid fans always knew he had. He was relentless in the press, constantly running at the Scotland defenders and goalkeeper to create chances from nothing. He understood also went to press, how to time the press, and the best approach and trigger to maximize his chances of either creating a mistake or pouncing on a mistake created by a teammate.
Beyond the goals, Vini Jr. led Brazil with six combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn, five shots on target, and he even had two key passes for good measure. Vini is a man reaching the top of his game, and now the whole world is seeing what Real Madrid fans already thought about him: that this guy is a world class, all around game wrecker who can score goals and work for his team to win.
Add us as a preferred source on Google