The decisive goals scored by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo during his brilliance with Real Madrid, on his way to winning the Champions League three times in a row, and which the Frenchman Karim Benzema inherited from the “Don”, now come at the feet of the Brazilian Vinicius Junior, who saved Real Madrid with his brace at the Allianz Arena in the round. The semi-finals, which is the role in which he scored in the last three seasons, where he played a starring role in the “Merengue” ranks while he was only 23 years old.
Vinicius came to Real Madrid’s rescue in another decisive match, where he played in a position that allowed him great freedom of movement based on the instructions of Italian Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of the Spanish team.
Vinicius has so far scored four goals in the Champions League semi-finals over several editions, beating stars such as Amancio Amaro, Perry and Sergio Ramos, while equaling the numbers of Carlos Santillana and Hector Real.
At the age of 23, he is currently ahead of Vinicius only Alfredo Di Stefano, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and Puskas as scorers on the threshold of the final.
Of the 20 goals Vinny scored in the Champions League, eight of them came in the knockout rounds.
The Brazilian scored the victory goal in the match that ended with Real Madrid winning the 14th European title in the Champions League, a goal that destroyed Liverpool’s dreams in Paris in 2022.
According to the Spanish newspaper “Marca”, Florentino Pérez considers the Brazilian player to be the successor to the legend Cristiano at Real Madrid, especially at the decisive time on the nights of the Champions League. He also prefers him over Mbappe, Rodrigo and Bellingham as the first candidate for the Ballon d’Or this season.