Actual Madrid supervisor Carlo Ancelotti stated Vinícius Júnior is handled worse on the pitch than any participant he has coached in his profession as he passionately defended the ahead on Saturday.
Vinícius scored Madrid’s solely aim of their 1-1 Champions League round-of-16 draw with RB Leipzig on the Bernabeu on Wednesday, however was additionally lucky to flee with solely a yellow card for shoving Leipzig captain Willi Orbán.
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Final weekend, the Brazil ahead was repeatedly whistled by the gang on the Mestalla throughout Madrid’s 2-2 draw with Valencia — a recreation during which he additionally scored twice — having been racially abused by a bunch of followers in the identical fixture final season.
“I’ve regarded again a bit, at historical past, at statistics, and I’ve by no means seen a participant who’s been persecuted like Vinícius,” Ancelotti stated in a information convention on Saturday, forward of Madrid’s LaLiga recreation with Celta Vigo.
“He is kicked, he is whistled, he is insulted. And what does he do? He scores targets and supplies assists. After which I am supposed to speak to him about his angle? No!
“Everybody ought to change their angle concerning Vinícius. In my private historical past, a participant with nice expertise has by no means suffered the issues that Vinicius has. In Vallecas [against Rayo Vallecano] he received karate chopped within the head, and there wasn’t even a yellow card. Now everyone seems to be asking for a pink card for the push towards Leipzig.”
Vinícius has scored 9 targets in 18 LaLiga appearances this season, and three in 5 Champions League video games.
Within the Madrid squad, he has solely been outscored by Jude Bellingham, who misses the Celta match after his two-game ban for being despatched off within the Valencia draw was upheld.
Bellingham was dismissed after the ultimate whistle for passionately disputing the referee’s determination to finish the sport seconds earlier than he headed the ball into the web, for what would have been the profitable aim.
“We appealed as a result of we thought the punishment was extreme,” Ancelotti stated. “There was no insult, the referee’s report stated that. [The RFEF disciplinary committee] evaluated the aggressive approach during which he approached the referee.
“I hope they have not ‘received his quantity’. Bellingham complains generally like all people does, however quite a lot of gamers do it in a extra exaggerated approach than Bellingham. We nonetheless assume the punishment is inaccurate.”
Madrid’s efficiency within the second leg towards Leipzig was criticised after they have been dominated by the Bundesliga facet.
“Earlier than the sport I stated that possibly a small [first-leg] benefit impacts your consideration and depth,” Ancelotti stated. “The crew was a bit fearful, we performed a low block, we did not press… We performed eager about having the benefit.
“The reality is I do not know put together a crew for this [situation] as a result of it is all the time occurred, it occurred towards Schalke [in the Champions League in 2015], it occurred towards Chelsea [in 2022]… You possibly can’t say ‘do not take into consideration our lead’ as a result of then all you concentrate on is your lead.”
