Vinicius stops short

Vinicius also has bad streaks. And now, in particular, is immersed in the worst of the season. He has six games without scoring (seven, if you count the Real Madrid-Granada that was lost due to suspension). His last goal was 38 days agoin the Classic of the Super Cup played in Arabia, when he opened the scoring by shooting Ter Stegen from the short angle after a movie counterattack. He arrived at that match in the wake of Superstar that is accompanying him this course, that of his soccer explosion, but the shine, since then, has diminished to reflect his most human version.

Because since then Vinicius has played six games: the Super Cup final (2-0 vs Athletic), the two Cup matches (Elche, with extra time included and Athletic), two League matches (Elche at home and Villarreal away) and the recent misstep in paris. Six opportunities and no accurate bullet. No goal. Conclusion: there are 608 minutes of drought. His numbers have dwindled in such a way that they are not only reduced to the scoring section: in terms of assists, he has only managed to give one in all this time, the center to Militao to fish a point from the troubled river that meant the visit from Elche to the Santiago Bernabéu .

The maximum that he had come to chain this season without scoring had been four games, in December. Didn’t taste blood Inter (last day of the Champions League group stage), nor of Atleti, Cadiz and Athletic, in what was a final stretch of 2021 worthy of outstanding high, almost registration. In the derby, in fact, he gave the two assists of the game, drawing Benzema and Asensio the punches that knocked down the neighbor. On the sides of that parenthesis are his target at the Reale Arena and a carat double against Valencia.

the january slope

Although Ancelotti alleges in a press conference that he does not see signs of fatigue in any of his players, he cannot hide that January has been a marathon for the twenty. The coach, this Friday, defended him again before the media when asked about his particular pothole: “The same thing is happening to everyone, that we are not well. It is not a physical issue. Vinicius has had a very intense month of January, but now there is a time when he is going to slow down in games and regain his effectiveness“. And the truth is that, when he talks about “a very intense month of January”, he is not without reason.

Vinicius started the year infected with covid, which made him miss visits to the Coliseum and Alcoy. He returned to the Valencia and, almost without time to catch up, set sail for Arabia, where he won the Super Cup. then played 117 minutes cupbearers in the Martínez Valero to immediately afterwards fly with Brazil and play in Quito and Belo Horizonte. He came back and without time to catch oxygen, jumped to San Maméswhere he was inevitably exhausted. There were eight games (and a transoceanic trip) in four weeks.

twenty

Without Benzema there is no paradise

That he and Karim are the top scorer and third top scorer in LaLiga is no coincidence. They form the most fearsome tandem in the competition and the numbers back it up. But if one is missing, the bike falls apart. The bad streak of the Brazilian has coincided with the absence of the French due to injury. Neither with Jovic, nor with Asensio and Bale with false nines, was he able to coordinate as he does with his squire. Everything flows when Benzema is there: he gives him an average of 5.6 passes per game and he returns an average of 5.8. And although they met again in Paris, they were not the usual ones. That is why this Saturday, in the League, where everything works, they are called to be that gunpowder duo that has been astonishing for months.

Benzema and Vinicius during a Champions League match.

It all started against Alavés

because it just so happens that Vinicius He will have in front of him the rival with whom he began his metamorphosis to galactic. On mendizorroza Madrid played its first game and he gave the inaugural blow of the seasonof his great course: Alaba served a ball with music and the twentybetween two towers like Laguardia and Lejeune, headed into the net throwing himself on the iron. That afternoon he was a substitute (he came on for Hazard in the 65th minute), but it was the beginning of something big. Of his particular seasoning.

Because a week later he repeated the bench against Levante and, with two goals in half an hour, he became independent from the cast to be the protagonist: since then whenever he has been summoned, he has been a starter. From revulsive to indisputable. In Mendizorroza the spark of a Big Bang was lit. And this Saturday, against the same rival, the most human Vinicius will try to recover the ferocity that January stole from him. With Benzema, the Bernabéu and -finally- rest in his legs, he is ready to put his sudden braking behind him.

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Vinicius stops short