“Brother, don’t play to him. On my mother’s life, he is playing against us.”  It was just about a year ago when Benzema was caught on camera making this statement to Ferland Mendy about Vinicius Jr. in the tunnel at halftime during Real Madrid’s Champions League group game against Borussia Monchengladbach.  Now, a year later, Vinicius has now formed a very potent partnership with Benzema and is now Madrid’s second-highest goal scorer so far this season behind only, of course, Benzema. 

Barring only Karim Benzema, Vini Jr. has been Real Madrid’s most dangerous attacker so far this season. He has been so lethal down the left-wing that he is the sole reason Eden Hazard has not been seeing so much playing time this season. And perhaps also the reason Real Madrid are confident enough to make the superstar Belgian available on the transfer market.  But he has not always been like this. Anyone who has been watching Vini Jr. before now knows that his speed, trickery, and ability with the ball have been undoubtedly from time. The problem has always been with his final balls. His finishing or his ability to set up a player for a finish has been a big letdown.  

These were the main reasons many people called him a YouTube player. You know, great skills and a lot of showboating that are good enough for video compilations, but hardly any end result on the actual field of play.  But it appears that over the past year, the Brazilian youngster trained a lot and improved in those areas where he was lacking. And now, the boy is a different beast. A totally different player from who he was last season and the seasons before that.