Vinicius Junior has been compared to a young Cristiano Ronaldo following his performance in the 3-0 El Clasico defeat at home against Barcelona.
While it was a miserable night for Real Madrid as they crashed out of the Copa Del Rey in humiliating fashion at the semi-final stage, Vinicius was a real bright spark for Los Blancos during his 81 minutes on the pitch.
Under Julen Lopetegui, the Brazilian youngster barely got a look-in and had to contend with playing for the club's Castilla side.
But Santiago Solari, who saw what he was capable of in the B team, has given him plenty of opportunities on the first-team stage and Vinicius has emerged as a regular starter and key player for the 13-time European champions.
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Last night, the former Flamengo starlet caused all sorts of problems with his combination of skill and pace, even sitting down Gerard Pique on more than one occasion.
He should have had two assists as Karim Benzema and Sergio Reguilon both spurned glorious chances he set up, but at the same time he did also show that there's plenty of room for improvement in terms of his end product.
As per football writer Dermot Corrigan the Real Madrid No.28 had six shots in the game, including some really good goalscoring opportunities, but wasn't clinical and only managed one on target.
Rik Sharma followed up by highlighting that despite Vinicius having joy when it comes to assists (he has nine for the first-team) - he has a poor conversion rate of just three goals from a total of 75 shots.
Although Real forked out €45 million for him, we must remember that the lad is still only 18 and already playing at a very high level.
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Enter the young Cristiano Ronaldo comparison from journalist Euan McTear. Ronaldo himself only scored six goals in his first 40 games for Manchester United when he was just a promising prospect and so Vinicius definitely has time on his side.
Topics: Football News, Vinicius Junior, FC Barcelona, Football, El Clasico, Copa del Rey, Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
