At Real Madrid they are questioning the Brazilian’s absence.
Real Madrid suffered the sensitive loss of Vinícius Júnior, who has been, without a doubt, the star of Carlo Ancelotti’s team so far in the 2024/2025 season, even above other big names in the Merengue squad such as Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde, among many others.
The White House reported on Monday, November 25, that the Brazilian is suffering from a hamstring injury in his left leg and that he will therefore be sidelined for the team’s matches over the next 21 days, including the match against Liverpool this Wednesday at Anfield Road for the fifth round of the UEFA Champions League League Stage.
But of course, Vinícius’ situation is not the only one of this kind that has arisen in the Real Madrid squad in recent weeks. That is why, with each new injury, internally they begin to look askance. With the accumulation of ligament tears of Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba (these two in the previous season), Éder Militao (in the previous one and this one again) and Dani Carvajal, the one targeted was Antonio Pintus, physical trainer of Ancelotti’s coaching staff.
There were also other cases , which, although they did not reach such a serious level, were equally detrimental to Merengue’s schedule with their absences. These were Aurelién Tchouaméni, Lucas Vázquez and Rodrygo Goes, who had to be sidelined to focus on recovering from various muscle ailments.
Carlo Ancelotti, the main target due to Vinícius Júnior’s injury
And who was to blame for Vinicius? According to El Chiringuito, in the internal reading that was made at Real Madrid as soon as the news was known, the Conmebol Qualifiers were blamed. The long trip (which had to cross the Atlantic Ocean), the change in temperature (from being above 30 degrees in Maturín and Salvador Bahía to the 7 or 8 that are felt at this time in Madrid) and the intensity of the matches in South America were the first explanation.
In fact, Carlo Ancelotti said in a press conference that, vs. Leganés, Kylian Mbappé projected himself on the left, the area where the Brazilian usually moves, because he was fresher for the wear and tear of playing on one of the wings (the Frenchman was not called up by Didier Deschamps for the UEFA Nations League matches).
But the trip that Vinícius made to South America was the same as that made, for example, by Federico Valverde. In fact, on Tuesday morning in Europe, Brazil and Uruguay faced each other at the Arena Fonte Nova. Then, as the hours passed, it dawned on them that the coach had his responsibility.
In the aforementioned match against Leganés, played this weekend, Kylian Mbappé, for example, was substituted, and Vini Jr. was not. Real Madrid’s number 7 played the entire match and ended up getting injured, when he could easily have come on when the match was resolved with Valverde’s 2-0 in the 66th minute, knowing that the difficult stop at Anfield Road was coming.
