Thierry Henry has questioned Vinicius’ decision-making after the Real Madrid winger had an anonymous night against Liverpool at Anfield.
On a night where much was expected from the one-time Ballon d’Or hopeful, he instead went missing and produced zero shots during his 90 minutes on the pitch.
That is not the only stat that makes for grim reading for Madrid fans as he produced zero successful dribbles, zero accurate crosses, had an xG of 0 and an xA of 0.13, and created just four chances all while playing against a 22-year-old.
And while that 22-year-old in Conor Bradley is being hailed for one of the great defensive performances, the likes of Thierry Henry have questioned why one of the supposed best players in the world could not do more.
“You have an opportunity at the beginning, for example, Vinicius had Conor Bradley for the first five or seven minutes, and then he let him breathe,” Henry said in his role as a pundit for CBS. “Why do you let him breathe? Keep trying until he gets a yellow card and then he can’t defend in the same way, but that didn’t happen.”
Henry went on to question why Vinicius chose to delay attacking movements and allow Liverpool to regroup.
“Vinicius received the ball in a one-on-one after a good battle in the first five minutes against Conor Bradley, and he passed it back to his left-back to receive it again… and now it was a one-on-three.
“Then he attacked alone against the three of them, and I thought, wait, do the math. You had a one-on-one, try to see what you can do with that. Why do you move the ball back so it comes back to you and you can play a one-on-three? I just don’t understand it sometimes.”
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Henry was not the only one to criticise the Madrid attackers, with Gareth Bale also suggesting the attacking efforts of his former side were disappointing.
“We didn’t see Mbappe or Vinicius in that final third working their magic and getting back into the game. It was a bit disappointing that in that final third we didn’t really see the quality you expect from Real Madrid players.
“I think it’s frustrating. Maybe it just makes things more complicated. Sometimes you just have to push the ball forward and test the defender. They were clearly quicker than any of the players on the pitch, so only they can answer those questions.
“Maybe they don’t do it because there’s no one else in the box waiting for crosses. Maybe you need that target man, and that complicates things a bit.”
Over in Spain, Sport suggested that Vinicius’ talents only work in La Liga, where full-backs do not have the speed of Conor Bradley.
“In La Liga, with Vinicius consistently leaving his markers a foot behind, he’ll benefit. However, if he encounters players like Bradley who can keep up with him, his advantage is minimised.”
Vinicius was not the only Madrid player to come in for a hammering, with Mbappé also the focus of much criticism.
The Barcelona-based newspaper El Mundo Deportivo said he was “missing” during the first half.
“All the mystique and epic nature that the match showed minutes before the ball started rolling began to fade as the minutes passed and the game of the two teams became more physical than anything else. Especially [Madrid], who had a lot of the ball but without decisiveness.
“Although players like Vinicius or Bellingham got into the game a lot with it, not so other more lethal ones like Mbappe, who was missing during the first half.”
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