Vinicius Junior has been one of the best players in Europe this season for Real Madrid – and he capped off a stunning campaign in perfect style by scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final against Liverpool in Paris.
After a great deal of criticism in his first two seasons at Madrid for his lack of end product, the 21-year-old Brazilian has well and truly come of age in 2021-22.
He has scored or assisted dozens of goals and has been one of Madrid’s main contributors – alongside strike partner Karim Benzema – to his team’s success in the Champions League as well as La Liga.
Explaining Vinicius’ form to SiriusXM, Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “I think Vinicius is a really talented player. He arrived here at Madrid when he was really, really young and of course it took time for him to reach the top. Because now, in football, talent isn’t enough to reach the top.
“You have to improve your tactical knowledge, your physical condition. I think Vinicius has done really well this season because of this reason. He was able to show his talent because of a base of tactical knowledge and a better physical condition.”
Here (with help from WhoScored, FBRef and Opta) we have rounded up 12 stats to prove just how magnificent Vinicius has been across the length of the season.
– In his final 12 games of the 2020-21 season, Vinicius did not get a single goal or assist. In the first 11 games of this campaign, he got seven goals and three assists.
– In fact, in those 11 games, the Brazil international had already equalled his total of goal contributions from the entire 2020-21 season, when he managed six goals and four assists.
– Vinicius got 22 goals and 16 assists in 2021-22 in all competitions for a total of 38 goal contributions. That is a 280% increase in productivity on 2020-21.
– This season, Vinicius was among the top 10 most productive players in Europe’s big five leagues in terms of total goal contributions. He and…
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