Vinicius Jr. endured an off-night in Real Madrid’s 2-2 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday.The Brazilian forward, 20, received the lowest score out of any Real player on Marca’s player ratings, with 1.5k downvotes at the time of writing.“Very direct but lacked precision in the final third. He still hasn’t found consistency,” Marca wrote about his performance.That wasn’t nearly as scathing as teammate Karim Benzema’s review of Vinicius’ display.Footage of Benzema reportedly complaining about the young attacker to Ferland Mendy at half-time of the match has emerged.It’s alleged that Benzema said to Mendy: “Play it to me. On my mum’s life, he [Vinicius] is playing against us.”
Zinedine Zidane’s side were 1-0 down at the time. Vinicius had endured a difficult 45 minutes, producing some sloppy moments and losing the ball on more than one occasion.
While we don’t endorse Benzema’s comments, his frustration was understandable.
It didn’t any better after the restart. Vinicius squandered a guilt-edged opportunity to equalise when he smashed the ball high and wide after being teed up by Federico Valverde.
Marcus Thuram then doubled Monchengladbach’s lead and Vinicius was replaced with 20 minutes to go.
Vinicius Jr.'s individual highlights
The youngster has flashed his brilliance on many occasions, but Tuesday wasn’t it. His individual highlights have emerged and they explain why Benzema was so upset.
Things improved for Real after Vinicius was replaced.
Benzema equalised in the 87th minute and they grabbed a last-gasp equaliser through Casemiro.
It was a major relief for Zidane, who was just seconds away from starting the 2020/21 Champions League campaign with two straight defeats.
But the Real boss is unperturbed by his side’s recent form in Europe.
"The result shows the character in this team," Zidane said afterwards, per Marca. "We deserved to draw and I think even more. I like the reaction and it's an important point.
"We played well throughout the match, but it's true that we lacked something because we didn't win. We believe in the plan and we deserved the draw.
"There was a lot of good and there are no easy games. If we play like this then we'll do good things and we'll progress to the knockout rounds."