Vinícius reaches 100 goals for Real Madrid as the club advances in the Champions League

MADRID — Vinicius Júnior reached 100 goals for Real Madrid on Wednesday in the team’s 5-1 victory over Salzburg, securing a playoff spot after a slow start in the Champions League. The Brazilian scored his 99th and 100th goals, according to UEFA, placing him in third place among his country’s top scorers in the Champions League with 28 in the competition. Neymar leads with 43, followed by Kaká with 30. The Merengue team reported that Vinicius had reached 101 goals for the club. Spanish media indicated that the discrepancy dates back to a goal in La Liga that many considered an own goal and therefore should not count as scored by the South American forward. “I am very happy to be able to reach 100 goals with this shirt. Now I am only three behind Ronaldo, the Brazilian with the most goals for Madrid. I hope I can continue like this and score many goals to mark an era in this team, which is my dream,” Vinicius declared. “The goals are making me a better player. At first here I didn’t score many goals, but now I can have a bad game but still score two goals, and it’s a good habit!” Madrid, the defending champion and top title winner with 15, had lost three of its first six games in the new Champions League format and was at risk of elimination. The victory moved Madrid to 16th place in the 36-team league stage of the competition. Rodrygo also scored twice for the Merengue team, and Kylian Mbappé added another goal after a mistake by Salzburg goalkeeper Janis Blaswich. Brazilian Rodrygo has scored five goals in his last four games, while Vinicius has three in his two most recent games. Mbappé also scored five goals in his last four games. Jude Bellingham set up one of Vinicius’ goals with a clever backheel. The white team next visits the French club Brest.

PSG shows that it can shine in the Champions League without Mbappé

PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain finally showed it can shine in the Champions League without former star Kylian Mbappé, coming back from 2-0 down in the second half to beat Manchester City 4-2 on Wednesday. The crucial victory took PSG out of the elimination zone in the new format of the competition, with a general table, and left City in that section with one game to play. PSG’s redesigned attack finally came together, using four different goal scorers instead of relying too much on just one to make a difference. PSG winger Bradley Barcola scored one goal and assisted another for his France teammate Ousmane Dembélé. Midfielder Joao Neves headed in to score the third before striker Gonçalo Ramos added the fourth in stoppage time. The French team has struggled to score goals in the competition since Mbappé left for Real Madrid before this campaign. He had scored just six in as many games before City’s visit and had been held goalless in defeats to Arsenal and Bayern Munich. PSG coach Luis Enrique said before facing City that the solution up front would come from more teamwork rather than hoping another player can emulate Mbappé, who scored 44 goals last season and helped PSG reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. City coach Pep Guardiola acknowledged that his team was outmatched. “We have to accept it. In the transitions we couldn’t face them, they were faster,” he said. “I give credit to PSG. When a team is better, I have no problem accepting it. They all played really well. “He is not a specific player.” Mbappé’s move to Madrid has forced Luis Enrique to improvise with his lineups all season. This time, 19-year-old winger Désiré Doué played as a makeshift forward although centre-forward Ramos was available for this duel where both teams backed by rich states – the United Arab Emirates (City) and Qatar (PSG) – were at risk of not advancing to the direct elimination stage. City led 2-0 after 53 minutes but PSG equalized in the 60th after some inspiring play from Barcola on the left. Barcola beat Savinho before finding Dembélé near the penalty spot. Barcola himself, 22, equalized by hitting the left post after Doué’s shot bounced off the crossbar. The diminutive Neves leaned in to head in a free kick from the right in the 78th. Dembélé also hit the crossbar with 20 minutes remaining and PSG had two more goals disallowed for offside. PSG players ran to celebrate with their fans as the final whistle blew, and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi clenched a fist. Maybe losing Mbappé won’t be so bad after all. “We are a young team but a team with character,” Al-Khelaifi told Canal Plus. “Many players doubted our team, but I always trusted them.” Al-Khelaifi praised the impact of Luis Enrique. “I think we have the best coach in the world,” he said. “We are playing with character, identity, DNA.”

Real Madrid’s resilience keeps the team alive in an edition of the Champions League that sows fear in the greats

The new format of the Champions has put into practice the capacity that the real Madrid of overcome completely unknown difficulties in their fetish competition. The defeats against Lille, AC Milan and Liverpool caused the alarm light to go on regarding the possibility that the white club would not survive the league phase. However, a team like Real Madrid, hardened in a thousand battles, has known how face setbacks which has been found during its journey in a new edition completely unknown to all the European teams that make up this Champions League. The first match ball It took place in Bergamo. After the final whistle, Ancelotti breathed a sigh of relief after the scare that Retegui gave him in the 94th minute. Real Madrid got something more valuable than the three points from their match against Atalantathe confidence to face a final phase with the certainty that the situation was going to be resolved. After the defeat against Liverpool, The future looked very dark for the Madrid team.. Two games and six points later, the real Madrid has already secured its qualification for the qualifying round of the round of 16 and who knows if, if it achieves victory against Brest On the last day, a series of cabals may occur that put the team among the first eight. The chances of that happening are very remote, but Real Madrid has shown on numerous occasions that He doesn’t understand probabilities and statistics.. In memory is still the data that UEFA released in the semi-final second leg match between Real Madrid and Manchester City with the percentage of qualification options in the 89th minute of the match: 99% for the English team, 1% for the whites. The outcome? Ancelotti’s men ended up lifting the Champions League in Saint-Denis. Rush all options According to the RAE, resilience It is the ability of a living being to adapt to a disturbing agent or an adverse state or situation. In a completely unknown scenario – the real Madrid They have never been eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League in the 31 editions they have participated. The players took a step forward and with their vindication towards the figure of their coachhave reversed an unfavorable context. “We have already lost two games… I don’t know if we can reach the top eight, but we are going to try,” said Ancelotti in the press conference prior to the match against Liverpool in Anfieldwhere Madrid subsequently fell 2-0. Two months later, the Italian prefers to be cautious about what may happen: “There is not much to do or think. We have to win at Brest and see how we stay in the standings.” In terms of numbers, only one point separates Real Madrid from Bayer Leverkusen (eighth place). However, in terms of equipment there are seven ahead his: Bayern Munich; Borussia Dortmund Brest; Lille; Feyenoord AS Monaco and Aston Villa. In its favor is that only Liverpool and Barça have certified their classification. Therefore, there is six seats remaining for fourteen teams. Vinicius, Mbappé and Rodrygo celebrate a goal with Real Madrid EFE The white team has regained its momentum and is on the way to regaining defensive solidity at the most important moment of the season. The four musketeers (Rodrygo, Vinicius, Mbappé and Bellingham) showed against Salzburg that, with very little, they can be a lethal team. Real Madrid at half throttle scored five goals against the Austrian team. The players are fine-tuning themselves in the second part of the season where the dispute for the most important titles begins: League, Champions and Copa del Rey. The offensive arsenal that Ancelotti has is the envy of any coach. That does not guarantee success, but it can be fundamental in the results of the matches. At this point, Real Madrid can breathe easy. They will face Brest on the last day having secured qualification for the qualifying round to the round of 16 of the Champions League. Clubs like Manchester City or PSG cannot say the same. They will risk everything on the last day. The new format of the Champions League has made it very difficult for teams like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City to finish in the top eight, but there is a (very big) possibility that the champion of 2023 will be eliminated at the first opportunity. Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique give instructions to their players during PSG – Manchester City. Reuters At the end of day seven, the team led by Pep Guardiola It is in position 25, that is, it would be out of the Champions League. On January 29, City has a early ending: If they do not beat Bruges at the Etihad Stadium, their participation in Europe will end. Everything is to be decided in the last match of the league phase. The main objective of the greats at the moment is not to think about lifting the ‘Orejona’ in the Allianz Arena, but adding the three points in the next match is the immediate duty. If one of the greats is eliminated, the season would be disastrous.

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