The situation
Of the eight derbies he has played, he has only lost one , precisely the last one, 133 days ago, when Madrid visited the Wanda Metropolitano (now Cívitas), being League champions. Ancelotti introduced rotations (Vallejo, Nacho to the left back, Camavinga, Jovic…) and Carrasco decided. Vinicius was a substitute, came on in the 61st minute and signed his eighth derby without scoring . Today, at the ninth, he will look for his due. Because, paradoxes of fate, his white debut was precisely in a derby in 2018 (he started 2 ′, replacing Benzema). It has rained: since then, Vinicius has played 346 minutes in front of the red and white stripes. And no claw. The year of his debut, in addition to the fleeting participation in the Bernabéu, he was a starter in the Metropolitano , where he forced a controversial penalty (the rojiblanca parish claimed that Giménez’s demolition was outside the area, but the VAR pointed it out within). Madrid won that derby ( 1-3 ), but finished third in the league, in the shadow of Simeone’s soldiers. In the following season, 2019-20, he did not set foot in the Metropolitan, as Zidane chose Hazard ahead of him to play the big game in the capital ( which ended goalless ). He also did not play at the start or in the final of the Spanish Super Cup ( 4-1 on penalties ; the night of Valverde’s foul on Morata), nor in the red and white visit to the Bernabéu ( 1-0 ); but in both games he had minutes coming off the bench. He remained unmarked. Nothing and there were already five derbies. The next two, the ‘Covid’ season, he was a starter at the Bernabéu ( 2-0 ) and a substitute, but with minutes, at the Metropolitan( 1-1 , goal in extremis by Benzema). And the last one, the one with the ‘no corridor’ last year , 133 days ago, also ended up in water. Eight, he has eight derbies; 346 minutes and zero goals.
In the eye of the hurricane
And today will not be one more. Not much less. The Brazilian arrives at the Metropolitano at the best moment of his career: he is signing his best numbers ( scoring five games in a row, when his maximum until this season had been three), displaying blind self-confidence and an overwhelming personality. So much so that he has struck a chord with many rivals. It was a time bomb and it exploded last Sunday, when the Mallorca players denounced provocations and said that Vinicius had told them: What do you think you are going to win? The reproaches for an alleged ‘cockiness’ and ‘arrogance’ reached the very locker room, where according to Cadena SER ,the Madrid players had a conversation with him to ask him to change “his attitude” . What will warm up But Vinicius considers himself provoked, not a provocateur.