Vinicius: “Everyone wants to fight with me to appear in the press and I’m not a saint” | Soccer | Sports

Madrid began to catch the final an hour and 21 minutes before kick-off, in the classic Jude Bellingham ritual. Every match day, the young man always appears on the pitch as soon as he arrives at the stadium and walks around, alone and absorbed, to watch the match, as he has commented on several times. The Super Cup is no exception. At 8:39 p.m. Saudi time (two less in Spain), the Englishman came out of the locker room tunnel and found himself in exactly the same place in the center of the field, from where he then assisted Vinicius’ first goal. Still dressed in a suit and with his hands in his pockets, Bellingham stood at midfield at that point and spent four minutes looking at the green and the video scoreboard. There was no other Madrid player around him. Images of last year’s final came on the screens, which I had already seen in detail four days before, against Atlético, during the ritual.

Once protocol was followed, he slowly returned the way he had come. At 10:07 p.m. Saudi time, exactly from his observation position, he sent an exquisite pass from the outside to Vinicius, between Christensen and De Jong, and without Koundé being able to cut it. A sending that inaugurated the hat trick of the Brazilian, knocked down so many times in the classics by Araujo and this time liberated thanks to the space granted to him by the Barça defense, very advanced, and the dark night of the Uruguayan, who was sent disabled. The winger celebrated the first goal with the Yes of Cristiano Ronaldo, present in one of the boxes. “Barcelona give a lot of space behind their backs, we watched videos and the coach warned us about it,” Vinicius explained.

After Bellingham’s subtlety and Rodrygo’s send-in to make it 2-0, Vini became the first player to score two goals in the first 10 minutes of a classic since former Barça player Gary Lineker in 1987 .The last white man to achieve this. was the Dane Henning Jensen, in 1978. And then came the penalty, also thanks to a dislocated Araujo. The Brazilian was the first of the Whites to miss a maximum penalty this season, during the summer classic. The errors reached as many as four in a row from 11 yards. On this occasion he crossed it to Iñaki Peña according to Bellingham’s instructions. A third hole which makes him the fifth player to achieve a hat-trick in a classic: Samitier (1926), Barinaga (1943), Narro (1951), Zamorano (1995) and him this Sunday. “He needed two or three games to get back to his level,” Ancelotti said.

However, in the middle of his private evening there was also room for his classic brawl with his rivals when Araujo was sent off for a foul on him. “I’m sad because everyone wants to fight me, they know they’re going to appear in the press. I try my best to be very calm and centered, but sometimes it’s not just me. Of course, I’m not a saint. Sometimes I talk too much and do dribbles that I shouldn’t do, but I’m here to improve and set an example for the kids. The coach and my teammates are teaching me,” he commented during his appearance as MVP of the duel.

Thursday, Lunin; Sunday, Kepa

Andriy Lunin, holder this time and author of four important interventions, took care of the rest. He covered Ferrán well, still tied, he got a hold of a shot from Lewandowski, he clearly cleared with his foot an attempt from Ferrán Torres and, once everything was done, he made João Félix bitter. The turnaround in the Madrid goal does not stop. Two matches in Riyadh, two goalkeepers. The doubtful Kepa was followed by the prosperous Lunin. “Before Atlético, I already knew that today (this Sunday) Lunin would play. And Thursday, Lunin will be there. Kepa will return to the League,” announced Ancelotti, who surpassed Zidane for the number of matches coached at the club (264) and equaled him for the number of clean sheets (11). Only Miguel Muñoz remains ahead in both groups. “The result was too big for the way Barcelona played. I didn’t expect Vini’s first two goals. We took them into space. Then we had to achieve something more with the 2-0,” analyzed the Italian coach.

Riyadh, deserted, a city with lots of cars and almost no pedestrians, had risen with barely a trace of the classic. Only a dozen tourists passed through the Masmak palace-fortress, the closest thing to a tourist spot in the Saudi capital. The last walk of the evening was given to Kroos, who was once again booed for his criticism of the players leaving for the Saudi League, and when he was relieved, he walked away calmly, enjoying the whistles.

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