The ups and downs of Vinícius’ peculiar goalscoring record for Real Madrid

It’s become quite a regular thing as far as Real Madrid are concerned. When Carlo Ancelotti’s men win, whether they opened the scoring themselves or come from behind, Vinícius Júnior is often the first man to hit the goal trail. That was, of course, the case on Saturday against Espanyol, who went in front early on through Joselu at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu but were pegged back by the Brazilian, who netted for the first time since the first leg of Madrid’s Champions League round of 16 tie against Liverpool at Anfield. The winger picked up the ball on the left-hand side of the penalty area, skipped inside a couple of challenges and fired low into the bottom corner, starting the hosts’ comeback that was ultimately sealed by further strikes from Eder Militão and Marco Asensio.

How many times has Vinícius Júnior scored Real Madrid’s first goal this season?

Vinícius has frequently been fastest out of the blocks for Real Madrid in a season in which Karim Benzema, who has stumbled from one injury to another, has been unable to repeat the form he showed last term, when he hit 44 goals in 46 games. Nevertheless, the attackers’ numbers in front of goal are similar, with Vinícius having scored 19 times across all competitions compared to the Frenchman’s 18.

And the Brazilian has often netted important goals to get the team going: 11 of those 19 goals have been Los Blancos’ first in a game, compared to Benzema’s seven. In the games in which the winger has scored Madrid’s first (against Celtic, RB Leipzig, Liverpool, Al Ahly, Al Hilal, Espanyol (twice), Betis, Osasuna, Girona and Villarreal), they have won on eight occasions and drawn twice, with their only defeat coming away to Leipzig, which didn’t prevent them from topping their Champions League group.

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Vinícius’ struggle for consistency

The flip side of the coin, however, is that Vinícius has struggled for consistency in front of goal, at least in LaLiga. The Brazilian has scored only twice in Madrid’s last 13 league matches, one of which he missed through suspension. He has scored six goals in the Champions League this season, two in the Copa del Rey and three in two matches at the FIFA Club World Cup but just eight in 2,122 minutes in LaLiga, which works out at one goal every 265 minutes. Last season, the winger scored a total of 17 league goals; this term, his current rate of scoring would see him reach just 12. As for his last LaLiga strike away from home...that came all the way back on 28 August.

An increase in yellow cards

If regular goalscoring has turned into one slight issue, then yellow cards have become another, with Vinícius being booked in four of his last five appearances. Ancelotti has turned to psychology in an attempt to cut down the number of cautions he receives but still defends his player nevertheless: “He gets a lot of cards considering how often he gets kicked”, said the Italian following the weekend victory against Espanyol.