Vinicius Junior was back to his very best in Real Madrid's 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa de Espana final. The Brazilian attacker has been out of sorts this season and was on an 18-game goal drought until tonight.
That was until the 45+2nd minute when he came up with an incredible solo goal to equalise after Raphinha's 36th minute opener. It was a frenetic end to the first half as Robert Lewandowski then made it 2-1 in the 45+4th minute before Gonzalo Garcia netted in the 45+7th minute.
Madrid fell to defeat courtesy of a second Raphinha goal in the 73rd minute after his effort took a big deflection off Raul Asencio. It was a cruel way to lose but Los Blancos were their own worst enemy at times.
Courtois on where Real Madrid went wrong with Vinicius
Vinicius was sensational whenever he drove forward on the left flank and gave Jules Kounde all sorts of problems. He lasted until the 82nd minute before he was brought off for Franco Mastantuono.
Thibaut Courtois gave his take on the El Clasico defeat and suggested his teammates didn't make the most of Vinicius. The Belgian goalkeeper said (via Madrid Xtra):
"We didn’t take advantage of this version of Vini Jr. today, he was a nightmare for them and we didn’t take advantage of it."
Vinicius came into the game off the back of some haphazard performances and was even booed by some fans in wins over Sevilla and Real Betis. But he put in the type of display that we've seen in previous years, toying with the Barca defense and scoring a sublime goal.
Vinicius makes history in Supercopa final loss
The defeat to Barcelona was a bitter pill to swallow for Vinicius, not least because he enjoyed arguably his best performance of the season. But he also reached a milestone with his goal, moving joint-top of the rankings for most goals and assists from a Madrid player in a final.
Vinicius moved onto 16 goals in 15 finals, level with Cristiano Ronaldo (18 finals), Karim Benzema (29 finals) and Ferenc Puskas (8 finals). It's another feat for the Brazil international who might just have turned a corner after tonight.
Once the 25-year-old came off Madrid missed his energy and threat on the left which was where Alonso's men's main attacking play came from. But on the positive side he may well be back to his best after a frustrating period.