Vinicius’ two goals

The spotlight is on Vinicius at Wembley tonight in what will be his second Champions League final at just 23 years old.. The Brazilian is Real Madrid’s top three scorers in European competition this year with five goals (along with Rodrigo and Joselu) and it is difficult to explain Madrid’s presence in London without the contribution of the Sao Gonçalo man: he scored the 1-0 in the second leg against Leipzig, when Madrid suffered the most; against City, he provided two assists in the first leg at the Bernabeu and another for Rodrigo at the Etihad (though that second assist was disallowed when Ederson’s first shot was saved and the Real Madrid player scored from the rebound); and in the semi-final against Bayern, he scored two white goals in the first leg in Munich and also became a constant headache for Tuchel’s side in the return leg, although he did not find reward for the goal.

Vinicius is no stranger to this final; He has already scored the winner for Madrid in Paris in 2022 against Liverpool. It was the unbalanced Vinicius, but more inconsistent and overshadowed by the excellent Benzema. This is another Vinicius, with a greater striking edge, with the ability to play more decisively inside and, above all, with the knowledge that his teammates will look for him when they can so that he can unravel the game.

If he sees a goal at Wembley, he will also be capping off his highest scoring campaign at club level, with 22 goals in 2021/22, 23 in 2022/23 and another this campaign so far 23. His personal best goal and 15th are the same distance; A little.

There’s a summer of national team competition ahead which could skew the table of candidates considerably, but no doubt a white title in London today will make Vinicius, along with Bellingham, heavy favorites to win the next Ballon d’Or. An individual trophy that at the moment was not particularly appreciated: after the 2021–22 season, the season of the Champions League double, it was predicted that Benzema would take it., but Vinicius barely managed to finish eighth, with just over 4% of the votes. This time it’s different, especially if he makes his mark in Dortmund’s goal tonight.

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