Vinicius in Galáctico mode

The King of Europe has a prince commanding the finest dance floor on the continent. The Champions League is Real Madrid’s signature competition, and its knockout rounds are where Vinícius Júnior feels most at home.

His goals in Lisbon and again at the Bernabéu proved decisive in securing a place in the round of 16, where either Manchester City – a team he has already scored twice against – or Sporting CP await. And that is precisely where the expectation is highest: because it is in the Champions League knockouts that the Brazilian reveals his purest form.

Across the eight seasons since arriving in Madrid, Vinícius has been involved in more knockout-stage goals than any other player in that span. He has become a guarantee for the Spanish giants – it is rare to find a tie in which he has not scored or provided an assist. He did it again against Benfica, and he looks poised to do so once more in the next round. It is not merely the setting of the Champions League, but the form he is carrying into it. He has now found the net in five straight games, operating in full galáctico mode.

Vinícius sealed the tie with his 13th goal of the season, his third in this Champions League campaign. A scoring drought that dragged on for three months finally ended with his strike against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final. Since then, he has been closing in on the standards he set over the previous four seasons, when he surpassed the 20-goal mark each year after flourishing under Carlo Ancelotti.

That Super Cup goal broke the spell, and since then the floodgates have opened. He finishes February with six goals across five consecutive games, equaling his best scoring streak, which dates back to the start of the 2022-23 season. Rayo Vallecano, Real Sociedad – against whom he struck twice – Benfica and Osasuna have all fallen victim to his precision. The only February fixture he missed was at Mestalla, serving a suspension.

“I’m very happy for him because he deserves it,” Álvaro Arbeloa said. “When Mbappé was here, we needed him. Now even more so. He has to be our leader and our reference point. We’ve seen that he can make the difference.” And that difference has been most pronounced in Champions League knockout ties. Vinícius has featured in 20 such ties – including finals – for Real Madrid in Europe’s premier competition. In 17 of those 20, spanning 37 games, he has either scored or assisted.

Vinicius in numbers

He has delivered 14 goals and 12 assists in that stretch, making him the player with the most goal involvements in knockout rounds over the past eight editions of the tournament. He is also the leading assist provider. Only Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé, with 18 goals apiece, Erling Haaland with 16, and Robert Lewandowski with 15 have scored more in that period. Yet none of them can claim to have found the net in two Champions League finals.

The only knockout ties in which Vinícius failed to score or assist were the 2021 round of 16 against Atalanta, that same season’s semifinal against Chelsea, and last year’s round of 16 against Atlético Madrid. Along the way, he has delivered unforgettable displays, including against Liverpool in 2021 and 2023, when he scored twice and assisted once in the unforgettable 5-2 win at Anfield. When the decisive moments arrive in Europe, he produces a goal or assist every 122.7 minutes in knockout play, according to data from BeSoccer Pro.

His strike against Benfica also propelled him into rarefied company. With 14 knockout goals, he has become the highest-scoring Brazilian in Champions League knockout history, surpassing Neymar’s 13. He now stands sixth on Real Madrid’s all-time European scoring list with 32 goals, overtaking Francisco Gento’s 31. Next in his sights are Ferenc Puskás with 35 and Alfredo Di Stéfano with 49, while further ahead loom Raúl González with 66, Benzema with 78 and Cristiano Ronaldo’s staggering 105.

“I’m happy that Vini dances. Let him keep dancing, because that means he’s scoring,” Thibaut Courtois said with a smile. “He’s a bomb when he does these things,” added Carreras. Eight seasons of doing just that. Goals flowing since the day he arrived. When the Champions League anthem rings out, Vinícius prepares to dance. On the grandest stage of all, he owns the floor.

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