The 2021/22 season has been the season of Vinicius Junior‘s arrival on the biggest of stages
Karim Benzema, Real Madrid‘s star player, put him in the world’s top five players before the Champions League final, wherein Vinicius won Los Blancos the trophy with his 22nd goal of the season.
He also signed up with 20 assists, including winning (five) penalties, to make Real Madrid the much-anticipated arrival at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in 2018.
His problems before the goal and certain aspects of the game brought so much disrespect to him, that even Benzema himself doubted his ability to decide.
In 2021/22, he passed that earlier as the winning player re-established himself as one of the biggest stars in the world by being a key figure in the history of doubling the history of Real Madrid.
But the data, in addition to those actions worth 42 goals, hides some aspects that need to be highlighted.
Vinicius was the most frequent player in Real Madrid’s 2021/22 season, 52, a figure only matched by Thibaut Courtois.
He had a third start (47), had more wins than any other player (37, as Belgian goalkeeper) and came third in the last minute (4,272).
These figures not only reflect Vinicius’ influence on the group, but something else that may have gone unnoticed: the Brazilian is protected from injury.
In fact, since his move to Real Madrid he has suffered only one injury, a hamstring strain on his right ankle in an unexpected UEFA Champions League match against Ajax, which was the first Real Madrid victory in Europe in four years.
Aside from that tragedy, which kept him out of action for two months, Vinicius had only an intestinal problem (one game missed) and an inevitable coronavirus (two games closed, last season) since 2018.
The other end of his absence, against Granada, was due to suspension.
Looking back, Vinicius has not suffered a hamstring injury since signing to the club, meaning he has not been suffering from injuries for some four years.
His strength is another factor that explains why, at just 21 years old, he has already played less than 170 games for Real Madrid, an average of more than 42 games per season.
That happened even though he eventually got used to starting the team in the 2020/21 season.
Renewing his future contract is a logical step in the evolution of a player who has traveled a long and aggressive path in the four years since he arrived at Real Madrid.
