Years ago when he was nothing more than 16 year old young boy, Vinicius was put into a very hard choice that would keep in stress even grown up men. The story of Vinicius is one of a boy who dreamed of playing for Real Madrid and almost ended up playing for Barcelona instead. Actually, he was nearly completing a move to Barca before Madrid swooped in and made sure the promising Brazilian chose Santiago Bernabeu over Camp Nou.
The key moment took place exactly on April 21, 2017, almost 4 years ago. Until then, Barcelona were leading the race against Madrid for Vinicius, with both sides having communicated to Flamengo they were willing to pay the player's €45 million release clause. Vinicius's parents had visited Barcelona's facilities and were convinced of their quality. However, Real Madrid, led by the club's head of international football Juni Calafat, interrupted their great rivals' move for the young brazilian.
Vinicius was given three days to decide and, although the pressure for a boy his age was tremendous, he decided to follow the club he liked more. He decided to choose Real Madrid, even though Barcelona offered him a little more money.
And so he sent a WhatsApp message to one of his representatives, Lucas Mineiro: "Real, mate. We're going to the biggest club in the world."
Four years after that message, Vinicius has played 106 games with Real Madrid, having become the fastest foreign player in club history to reach 100 appearances.
With 14 goals and 22 assists, he is averaging one goal involvement every 153 minutes. During this period he has also been called up twice by the Brazil national team, with which he debuted on September 11, 2019 against Peru.
Currently, with a contract through 2024 and a house under construction in the capital, where he feels very comfortable, his goal seems to be staying in Spain for a long time.
This Saturday, Vinicius will face at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium the team that once loved him and now fears him.
In his five previous Clasicos, he has stood out for his verticality and power, even leaving Gerard Pique on the ground like very few could, and then he even scored in the Clasico that saw Madrid win 2-0 in March 2020. That goal proved key as Madrid would eventually win the league when play resumed after the pandemic break.
Vinicius is 10th in minutes this year (1,947) for Los Blancos and is coming off a tremendous midweek display against Liverpool in which he became the youngest Real Madrid player to score a double in the Champions League.
As head coach Zinedine Zidane said on Friday of his team's young Brazilian star. "We are enjoying him, we are happy."
Will he score again tonight?
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