Vinicius Junior has been one of the best players for Real Madrid this season and capped off the season with the winner in the club’s triumph over Liverpool in the Champions League final.
The Brazilian has often been criticized for his style of play for his lack of end product but has proved this season why he is one of the best talents in Europe in Europe this season where he scored or assisted dozens of goals.
We look at some of the numbers he racked this season with help from WhoScored, FBRef, and Opta.
- Vinicius got 22 goals and 16 assists in 2021-22 in all competitions for a total of 38 goal contributions. That is a 280% increase in productivity from 2020-21.
- With his goal against Liverpool, Vinicius became the fifth-youngest player to score in a Champions League final. At 21 years, 10 months, and 16 days old, Vinicius was 18 days younger than Lionel Messi when he scored for Barcelona in the 2009 final against Liverpool’s rivals Manchester United.
- This season, Vinicius was among the top 10 most productive players in Europe’s big five leagues in terms of total goal contributions. He and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min were the only two players to make that top 10 without taking a single penalty.
Historia que tú hiciste… 14 ? pic.twitter.com/JhLFEnjbby
— Vini Jr. (@vinijr) May 28, 2022
- In his final 12 games of the 2020-21 season, Vinicius did not get a single goal or assist. In the first 11 games of this campaign, he got seven goals and three assists.
- In fact, in those 11 games, the Brazil international had already equaled his total of goal contributions from the entire 2020-21 season, when he managed six goals and four assists.
- Vinicius scored or assisted against every team that Real Madrid faced in the knockout stages of this year’s Champions League, coming up trumps when it mattered most.
- – In his 35 La Liga appearances, the Brazilian made 426 progressive carries – defined by FBRef as an action that carries the ball at least five yards towards the opponent’s goal or into the penalty area. That was the most of any player in Europe’s big five leagues. The next best in this regard was Joao Cancelo with 364.
- Vinicius dribbled past 115 players during the La Liga season. That was the most in the league and the only player in Europe’s big five leagues who dribbled past more players was Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin.
- Of Vinicius’ 38 total goal involvements this season, 28 came in La Liga at a rate of 0.9 per 90 minutes. That’s the highest per 90 goal contribution rate for any Under-21 player in La Liga since 2008-09 when Gonzalo Higuain averaged 0.95 goal contributions per 90 and Lionel Messi managed 1.1 goal contributions per 90.
