Vinicius Jr. has charged his Real Madrid teammates to be ready for the tough challenge against Manchester City, as this presents an opportunity to redeem their season.
Madrid are faltering in their title charge in Spain and have a herculean task in the UEFA Champions League with City ahead of them. Their fans are on edge and constantly boo them in matches, and these actions get to them.
Vinicius has now taken the opportunity to charge his teammates to use the Man City match to redeem their season.
“We need our best version in the round of 16 against a very difficult opponent like Manchester City, but we are playing at home, in front of our fans, with the support of everyone. We need a lot from them in a season in which we have had difficult games, but we also have to bring out our best version on the pitch.”
Real Madrid are aiming to win the competition for the 16th time in their history but are underdogs for the upcoming tie. This is even more glaring when you consider the fact that Man City won their league phase clash at the Bernabeu earlier this season.
Vinicius is also the team’s only major attacker thanks to injuries to Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham. Both players will also miss Wednesday’s match, which means the team’s hopes for the match will fall on the Brazilian’s shoulders.
Meanwhile, Man City could be without Erling Haaland for the tie, following the Norwegian’s latest omission from their matchday squad at the weekend and against Leeds United.
“I didn’t think to let him play, and I prefer him training to [clicks fingers] make a rhythm,” said Guardiola after the 3-1 win over Newcastle that books City’s place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. “After injury when he drops, he always struggles to have that real pace.”
As both teams rally to put their best foot forward for the upcoming tie, a Real Madrid legend has gone ahead to criticise Alvaro Arbeloa’s appointment.
“It didn’t make sense to sack Xabi Alonso,” Ivan Helguera said. “If you sack Xabi Alonso, you have to have an experienced coach in the dressing room to deal with all this. Right off the bat you get a kid who has never coached in the First Division. I don’t think Arbeloa is the right one for a situation like this. Real Madrid cannot improvise on the bench in such delicate moments.”