Brazilian’s rocket against Sevilla took Madrid top and suggested he is now among an elite group of game-changing players
“Vinícius has a motorbike beneath his boots,” Carlo Ancelotti said last week. What the
Real Madrid manager didn’t know was that he has a traction engine down there too. But late on Sunday night there it was, when they needed it most. Madrid were entering the 87th minute against Sevilla, the score even and a place at the top awaiting the winner, when a long ball from Eder Militao dropped from the sky by the left touchline. Vinícius chested past Lucas Ocampos, controlling and coming inside in one move, dropped his shoulder, went beyond Gonzalo Montiel and sent the ball tearing through the air and Yassine Bono’s hand into the far corner, the Bernabéu exploding.
Four touches is all it took; four touches and then that. “The perfect hit,” Emilio Butragueño called it. “An extraordinary, fantastic goal, incredible,” Ancelotti said. It had all happened so fast. Suddenly, there was Vinícius dancing with the corner flag, teammates running to catch up. He pointed at the badge, at himself and gestured to calm down, as if that was going to happen. The place was going wild. In the aisles and by the exits, where fans had gathered for a quick getaway, they decided they weren’t going anywhere yet. They had an ovation to give. Below them, the manager pumped his fists and hugged his son. Asked what he was thinking when it hit the net, Ancelotti smiled: “That we could win.”