Real Madrid entered the Bernabéu locker room on Tuesday at half-time, 0-2 behind Borussia Dortmund, and left there transformed into something that was a revelation for Carlo Ancelotti: “The second half taught us a lot of things. What we have to do and how we have to do it. It can be a key moment of our season.” And at the center of that transformation, Vinicius, who took the tumble of the first half as something personal: “We have to improve and play like this from the beginning. If not, the coach can’t stand it,” he said, half seriously, half jokingly.
Upon leaving the locker room, the Brazilian went into a boil that ended up dragging the team and the entire stadium. “It’s rare to see a player do a second half like he did,” Ancelotti said. “Apart from the goals, he played a second half with extraordinary energy, intensity and character.” Rüdiger’s 1-2 came preceded by the Brazilian’s agitation: a shot after a slalom, a pass into the area after a run, another long shot. The Brazilian’s transformation was captured in the Hudl Statsbomb records. It went off in everything.
He touched the ball almost twice as much: from 27 times in the first act, to 46. And he used the ball with much more risk and intention; also with more success and more damage to the rival. In the first half he had only attempted three dribbles, all of them failed, partly due to Ryerson’s good vigilance. The next 45 minutes were very different: he began to dribble more than three times, ten times, six successfully.
The team gained ground at its own pace and sought more and more space. In the second half he advanced 329 meters driving the ball, five times more than the 60 in the first. Only in the impossible 4-2 play, from area to area, did he travel 80.3 meters with the ball without being able to stop him.
He also took on more weight in finishing, after giving three key passes without fruit in the first act. He didn’t give any in the second. He went from shooting once (10% of the team) to shooting six times (35%). And in that effort he scored his three goals. It was a gale that took Madrid and the Bernabéu with it.
It was not the first time that Vinicius caused a transformation of this magnitude in a match, but it happened surrounded by circumstances that amplified the impact. For example, in the former footballer Jamie Carragher, who always regarded the Brazilian with a certain reserve: “Real Madrid thought they had signed the best player in the world, when they already had the best player in the world. Enjoy your Ballon d’Or, Vini,” he said on CBS in reference to the arrival this summer of Kylian Mbappé.
The Brazilian grabbed the flag of rebellion against Dortmund while the Frenchman, who has not quite taken off, remained in the background, from which he was able to assist Rüdiger to make it 1-2. This context highlighted the brilliance of Vinicius’ game, which had already produced something similar, perhaps even more important in 2023 at Anfield. That night, in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, Liverpool went 2-0 up in the 14th minute. Madrid had evaporated. Then Vinicius created two goals and they reached half-time tied. Benzema finished the job with 2-4 and 2-5, and that somewhat diverted the focus of the Brazilian, who against Dortmund did close the match with 4-2 and 5-2.
The one at Anfield and the one at the Bernabéu are the only two games in the history of the European Cup in which a team starts losing by two goals and ends up winning by three goals. And the flame of comebacks was lit by Vinicius, who also stirred that of last year in the second leg of the semifinals against Bayern. He was the one who shot the most (5) and the one who dribbled the most (8), but Joselu appeared in the photos of the goals.
The Brazilian has gained decisive weight on the field when the team is in the downpour and has also shown his intention to do so outside on the worst nights. Like in 2023 in Manchester after losing 4-0 against City. He was one of the few Madrid players who stopped to give explanations on the way to the bus to which Benzema, the captain, had already slipped away.
After the comeback he led against Dortmund, he summarized his intentions: “I’m still 24 years old and I want to stay here forever and do many things for this team.” Former player Thierry Henry detected Vinicius’ capital weight in Madrid a long time ago: “He said it even when Bellingham was scoring. It’s your team. Since the great man, Benzema, left, the team is his,” he said on Tuesday.
