Vinicius Jr has been claiming to be Real Madrid's best player for the last two seasons, but now, it seems like that title belongs to someone else. It has been so for a while.
Ever since Vinicius Jr lost the Ballon d'Or, his season has been on a downward trajectory, with multiple terrible performances in big games, and he just has not been the same player that was robbed of the award after a brilliant season.
Vinicius Jr was still decent for a few games, but it seems like ever since Real Madrid played Arsenal at the Emirates, a few aspects of his game have just vanished temporarily.
He has been giving out a lot of signs of his older self, the one with bad passes, bad decision-making in attack and bad first touches. His finishing is mostly the same as it used to be - although it could be improved upon - but Vinicius Jr's game has been affected.
Obviously, confidence is one big part of it, but Vinicius Jr has not looked the same.
Vinicius Jr was poor in Barcelona vs Real Madrid despite two assists
In the game against Barcelona, Vinicius Jr had so many opportunities to score or create goals if he had made a few passes correctly. Some of his passing was absolutely atrocious - he would wait around for too long, or pass it too quickly.
We saw the good side as well - he got two assists after all, one of which was absolutely brilliant - but we saw the worse version of him far more than anything else.
In two sequences - one in each half - his first touch was so poor that the ball went straight to Szczesny from the halfway line. It is something that he needs to work on.
It was not just one game. Against Arsenal, Vinicius Jr had a few really poor passes that killed multiple attacks without Arsenal even trying to defend.
These are things Vinicius Jr has too improve on if he wants to be in the Ballon d'Or conversation again. Real Madrid's first trophyless season since 2020-21 is not Vini's fault, but he needs to be much better if he wants his team and himself to be in that conversation once again.