Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior returned to goalscoring form on Wednesday night with an impressive brace against RB Salzburg, culminating one brilliant move in particular. A relaxed and comfortable night for Los Blancos, they hit the Austrian side for five, and Vinicius addressed a number of stories surrounding him after the match.
His double moved the Brazilian onto 101 goals in total for Real Madrid, and he was presented with a commemorative shirt by President Florentino Perez after the game. It moves him within striking distance of another Brazilian legend.
“These are incredible numbers (the 101 goals) and being able to surpass Ronaldo, who is one of my idols and is the phenomenon… He helped me a lot to score many goals because he gave me a lot of advice. I think he will be very happy that I can surpass him. I have the utmost respect for him,” he explained to TNT Sports Brasil.
He also cleared up any suggestion that the arrival of Kylian Mbappe might have altered the dressing room antics negatively.
“The beginnings are always complicated, but he has known how to adapt well and Kylian is such a great player that even adapting has scored many goals. Rodrygo and I are going to do everything so that he is the top scorer in all competitions, because that is what he came here for.”
#Vinicius to TNT Sports Brasil🗣️
“Rodrygo and I are going to do everything so that Kylian is the top scorer in all competitions.”
“Individual awards are important, but… We can’t talk so much, it’s not the vote people expected, we have to continue…”pic.twitter.com/gDniq0Puex
— Football España (@footballespana_) January 23, 2025
Despite his repeated declarations of love for Real Madrid, Vinicius continues to be linked with a move to Saudi Arabia. They are reportedly preparing a €350m offer for Vinicius this summer, but when asked about ‘speculation’ of a move, Vinicius was fairly clear about his intentions.
“Real Madrid. The next step is always to have a clear head, to be able to improve my game, to continue developing and to help the biggest club in the world, because I dreamed of coming here and being able to play with great players in such a brilliant season. I think that is my dream now, to think big and be able to win more titles with this shirt.”
Vinicius will serve the second game of his suspension this weekend in La Liga against Real Valladolid this weekend, as Los Blancos travel to the Nuevo Jose Zorrilla. Having sat out their game against Las Palmas this weekend too, Vinicius will also miss their Champions League trip to Brest next week, having picked up a yellow-card suspension against Salzburg. It will wipe his slate clean for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
