Never seen player treated as badly as Vinícius – Ancelotti،
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says Vinícius Júnior is treated worse on the pitch than any player he has coached during his career, as he passionately defended the striker SATURDAY.
Vinícius scored Madrid's only goal in a 1-1 Champions League last-16 draw against RB Leipzig at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, but was also lucky to escape with only a yellow card for jostled Leipzig captain Willi Orbán.
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Last weekend, the Brazilian striker was booed repeatedly by the crowd at the Mestalla during Madrid's 2-2 draw with Valencia – a match in which he also scored twice – after being insulted at racist character by a group of supporters during the same match last season. .
“I looked back a little, the history, the statistics, and I have never seen a player persecuted like Vinícius,” Ancelotti told a press conference on Saturday, ahead of Madrid's La Liga match and Celta Vigo.
“He kicks, he whistles, he is insulted. And what does he do? He scores goals and provides assists. And then I'm supposed to talk to him about his attitude? No!
“Everyone should change their attitude towards Vinicius. In my personal history, a player with great talent has never suffered the things that Vinicius suffered. In Vallecas [against Rayo Vallecano] he received a karate blow to the head, and there was not even a yellow card. Now everyone is asking for a red card for the push against Leipzig.”
Vinícius has scored nine goals in 18 La Liga matches this season and three in five Champions League matches.
In the Madrid squad, he was beaten only by Jude Bellingham, who will miss the Celta game after his two-match suspension for sending off in the draw against Valencia was confirmed.
Bellingham was dismissed after the final whistle for passionately contesting the referee's decision to end the match seconds before heading the ball into the net, for what would have been the winning goal.
“We appealed because we felt the sanction was excessive,” Ancelotti said. “There was no insult, the referee’s report says so. [The RFEF disciplinary committee] assessed the aggressive manner in which he addressed the referee.
“I hope they don't have 'his number'. Bellingham complains sometimes like everyone else, but a lot of players do it more exaggerated than Bellingham. We still think the punishment is wrong.”
Madrid's performance in the second leg against Leipzig was criticized after being dominated by the Bundesliga side.
“Before the match, I said that maybe a little [first-leg] The advantage affects your attention and your intensity,” Ancelotti said. “The team was a little worried, we played a low block, we didn't press… We played thinking we had the advantage.
“The truth is I don't know how to prepare a team for this [situation] because it always happened, it happened against Schalke [in the Champions League in 2015]it happened against Chelsea [in 2022]… You can't say 'don't think about our lead,' because then you only think about your lead.”
