Vinicius’s secrets: How he learned from Ronaldo and Benzema to define

A couple of years ago, Vinicius Junior was criticized every weekend in Spain. That he was 90% Brazilian, they said. He had dribbling, speed, joy, but when he approached the rival goal, he clouded over. He didn’t know how to define. Today, Vini seems to be another. To his gene he added what was missing: coldness in front of goal. And the clear example is the great goal he scored against South Korea on the momentary victory for the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Barely seven minutes into the game, Raphinha overflowed on the right and took a low cross that found only the Real Madrid player who came from the left wing. The ’20′ received the pass, stopped it, settled in and finished off smoothly to score the first of the game.

The Vinicius of before, the one who scored eleven goals in his first two full seasons with Real Madrid (87 games), possibly would have failed when he saw so many red shirts covering all the possible holes in his shot. .

“Vinicius was questioned about his rush to define. With the passing of the games he achieved that point of calm. The control and definition with the populated arc was masterful”tweeted Diego LaTorre, an Argentine former scorer who analyzes soccer on the international network ESPN.

It is the first goal of the Brazilian in a World Cup. The tears of his brother in his debut on the first date of the tournament were left behind. Now there is joy from what can be a constant from now on: Vinicius celebrating his goals. And for him to have improved notably in front of goal, there are two cracks that were fundamental: Ronaldo Nazario Y Karim Benzema.

Benzema and Ronaldo, Vinicius’ mentors

“I always watch videos of Ronaldo and he always tells me, when he talks to me, that when he’s facing a goalkeeper it’s much easier”recalled Vinicius Junior a few months ago after scoring a goal with Real Madrid.

It is not ‘9’, but in Brazil there is no footballer who does not know how to define. Placing the ball inside the goal is learned -if they are not born with that gift- at the same time as giving passes. Ronaldo, for example, scored 15 goals in the World Cups and is the second goalscorer in the tournament, behind the German Miroslav Klose.

Vini does not have the ‘Fenómeno’ game, but he is guided by how he defined. He puts on YouTube and attends the Brazilian’s master classes. He scored more than 300 goals as a professional, which could have been more if his knee allowed it.

But it is not the only influence that Vinicius has. At Real Madrid he learned from Karim Benzema, the second top scorer in the history of the merengue team. , said the Frenchman who left the World Cup due to an injury.

“Before, I had the idea of ​​overflowing and then ‘we’ll see’. She now stands out knowing if she is going to score, cross or go inside. (…) It’s the same as last season. The only difference is that now he makes the good decisions. reflect. That’s what I’ve taught him”he added.

Vinicius learned from the best and will continue to do so. He has improved in the only thing he needed to be a crack: define. And let’s not forget that he is 22 years old.

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