Never seen player treated as badly as Vinícius – Ancelotti

Real Madrid supervisor Carlo Ancelotti stated Vinícius Júnior is treated worse on the pitch than any player he has coached in his profession as he passionately defended the ahead on Saturday.

Vinícius scored Madrid’s solely objective of their 1-1 Champions League spherical-of-16 draw with RB Leipzig on the Bernabeu on Wednesday, however was additionally lucky to flee with solely a yellow card for shoving Leipzig captain Willi Orbán.

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Last weekend, the Brazil ahead was repeatedly whistled by the gang on the Mestalla throughout Madrid’s 2-2 draw with Valencia — a recreation during which he additionally scored twice — having been racially abused by a gaggle of followers in the identical fixture final season.

“I’ve looked back a bit, at history, at statistics, and I’ve never seen a player who’s been persecuted like Vinícius,” Ancelotti stated in a information convention on Saturday, forward of Madrid’s LaLiga recreation with Celta Vigo.

“He’s kicked, he’s whistled, he’s 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 ought to change their perspective concerning Vinícius. In my private historical past, a player with nice expertise has by no means suffered the issues that Vinicius has. In Vallecas [against Rayo Vallecano] he obtained karate chopped within the head, and there wasn’t even a yellow card. Now everyone seems to be asking for a pink card for the push towards Leipzig.”

Vinícius has scored nine goals in 18 LaLiga appearances this season, and three in five Champions League games.

In the Madrid squad, he has only been outscored by Jude Bellingham, who misses the Celta match after his two-game ban for being sent off in the Valencia draw was upheld.

Bellingham was dismissed after the final whistle for passionately disputing the referee’s decision to end the game seconds before he headed the ball into the net, for what would have been the winning goal.

“We appealed as a result of we thought the punishment was extreme,” Ancelotti said. “There was no insult, the referee’s report stated that. [The RFEF disciplinary committee] evaluated the aggressive approach during which he approached the referee.

“I hope they haven’t ‘got his number’. Bellingham complains sometimes like everybody does, but a lot of players do it in a more exaggerated way than Bellingham. We still think the punishment is incorrect.”

Madrid’s efficiency within the second leg towards Leipzig was criticised after they had been dominated by the Bundesliga facet.

“Before the game I said that maybe a small [first-leg] advantage affects your attention and intensity,” Ancelotti stated. “The team was a bit worried, we played a low block, we didn’t press… We played thinking about having the advantage.

“The fact is I do not know the way to put together a crew for this [situation] as a result of it is at all times occurred, it occurred towards Schalke [in the Champions League in 2015], it occurred towards Chelsea [in 2022]… You cannot say ‘do not take into consideration our lead’ as a result of then all you concentrate on is your lead.”