Why not start Vinicius Jr. in the Real Madrid opening match was an error by Xabi Alonso
Real Madrid is not ready to play without Vinicius Jr. with regard to these kinds of matches. Xabi Alonso decided to drop the Brazilian star of the 11 beginners of the White Match opening match from the 2025-26 Champions League season, showing great confidence in the other alignment players, starting with Franco Mastantoono and Rodrygo, both started alongside French star Kylian Mbappe. Despite a 2-1 victory via the Mbappe splint, both from the penalty point, Real Madrid showed that they were still not entirely prepared to face matters with high issues without their Brazilian star, Vinicius Jr. Objective of the match marked by American International Timothy WeahThe second and crucial game penalty came from an individual game from the Brazilian winger, who came out of the bench in the second half and showed why he had to start.
Why didn’t he start?
After Covid, most of the football leagues around the world introduced the rule of five substitutions that allows managers to rotate their key players during the season. For example, although it can often be more important to analyze the way a team ends a match rather than the way it begins, it was definitely unusual not to see Vinicius Jr. in the departure program of Real Madrid against OM during the opening of the Champions League in Madrid. Vinicius Jr., alongside Mappe and perhaps Rodrygo, are probably the most talented players on the current list, who have been able to lead the team to success in almost the last decade since he joined Spanish giants in the summer of 2018. But Real Madrid is probably not yet ready to do it in such games.
How did Real Madrid play without him?
Xabi Alonso aligned his side of Real Madrid with a 4-3-3 which also became a 3-3-1-3 when the Spanish giants attacked, as Arda Guller moved to a more offensive role and Alvaro Carreras moving towards a much more attacker role as a right-of-law compared to Dani Carvajal on the other side of the defense, which replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold injured. Mbappe led the attack as a central attacker, with Rodrygo operating on the left side of the attack and Wonderkid Mastanuono Argentino playing on the right side, which also made its official debut in the best European tournament with Real Madrid.
True
What changed with him?
When Vinicius came from the bench, Real Madrid could attack more with the ball and play it one against one on the left side of the attack. Vinicius played a total of 27 minutes, with 15 keys and two shots, but Real Madrid also had to face a difficult opponent like the team trained by Roberto de Zerbi, who could well defend when talented players like Mastantuono, Rodrygo and Vinicius tried to attack them individually. The whites recorded an XG of 3.65 in 90 minutes, showing that they deserved to win after all, but the feeling is that when Vinicius was on the field, they could be much more dangerous than before, and in fact, they obtained the second penalty when they were a man at he when Dani Carvajal received a direct red card in the 72nd minute of the match. Compared to the past, Vini has different teammates at the moment and must also adapt. While, especially before the arrival of Mbappe, he could space the attack with much more freedom under the direction of Carlo Ancelotti, he now adapts to the tactical ideas of Xabi Alonso, who needs a lot of responsibility and less freedom of the attackers. In addition, there is also the competition of other strikers and attackers such as Mastantuono and Arda Guller, who plays much more than before under the Spanish manager.
What is the next step?
Xabi Alonso will be forced to rotate each game, because Real Madrid is required to be a pretender in the title both at the national level and in Europe and needs all the players available to their best. However, Real Madrid currently has a really deep list compared to the past few years, and players such as Mastantuono and Guller offer more options to the former Bayer Leverkusen coach. Real Madrid needs Vinicius, and despite the victory in its beginnings in the Champions League against OM, they have probably shown that they are not entirely ready to play without it at the moment, but compared to the recent years, there are many more talented young players and who can develop and improve to start a new cycle at the club where expectations remain to win everything.
