Solari Impressed By Vinicius Performance

By Joshua Walters

Real Madrid manager Santiago Solari has heaped praises on his Brazilian teenager, Vinicius Junior, and said the attacking midfielder ‘brings joy to the team.'

Vinicius displayed a man-of-the-match performance in Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey match against Leganes on Wednesday, catching the eye of the manager who could not hide his feelings for what he saw from the young Brazilian.

“He has always had the talent, but showing it at the Bernabeu shows his self-confidence and freshness.”

The Brazilian wonder kid displayed same performance in his first  LaLiga start which ended in a 2-0 loss to Real Sociedad on matchday 18.

Santiago Solari has been with Vinicius since the arrival of the former Flamengo player at the club’s youth side,Castilla, from where the latter was promoted to succeed former manager Julen Lopetegui following the sacking of the former Spain national team coach for non-performance.

Vinicius Junior joined Real Madrid from Flamengo for a fee of €46 million making him the second most expensive player in the history of Brazilian football at that time.

Vinicius has gone on to play seven LaLiga games with one goal and three appearances in the Copa del Rey with two goals but has only featured in two Champions League matches with no goal thus far for the White Angels.

The teenager did not only show his dribbling prowess but also scored one of their three goals scored on the night by the team and that left his manager amazed by his performance.

“He is making great strides,” Solari said of Vinicius. “He brings joy and he’s just 18-years old. The thing in football is exploding and then sustaining, but he has the things that can break defences.”