Vinicius Jr reaches 100 goals for Real Madrid

Vinicius Jose Paixao de Oliveira Junior was born in Sao Goçalo, a municipality of Rio de Janeiro, on 12 July 2000. His story, like that of so many Brazilian stars, is that of a boy who grew up in one of the most deprived favelas of the former capital.Today, at the age of 24, he is an indelible part of Real Madrid's history.

The Brazilian winger scored a brace in the 'Merengues' win over Salzburg to reach a new milestone. Vinicius reached 100 goals as a Real Madrid player, a number for which he has needed a total of 291 games. It took him a while to get the hang of the art of scoring, but with discipline and the best masters he was able to transform his quality into something truly differential.

‘Real, papito. Vamos pro maior do mundo’, said Vinicius to his agent Federico Pena back in 2017, when at just 16 years of age he chose the “Merengues” over Barcelona, who were also bidding for him. Maybe in his mind he already visualised himself as he is today, that was his ambition, although perhaps not even in his best predictions did he imagine himself with two Champions League titles, winning The Best award and a possible Ballon d'Or.

Vinicius' dribbling talent was always undisputed, another matter was his goalscoring instinct. On 6th December 2018 he made his scoring debut in the 6-1 win over Melilla in the last 32 of the Copa del Rey, and on 3rd February 2019 he scored his first La Liga goal against Deportivo Alaves. At the time he was one of Santiago Solari's key players, the first man to really put his faith in him, but he struggled to find the net until he became meme fodder during his first three seasons.

The transformation back in 2021 was tremendous. It could be said that his turning point came in April 2021, when he eliminated Liverpool at Valdebebas with a brace that gave a glimpse of his evolution. With the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, the Brazilian definitely stood out in front of goal. 
And that was the key to his growth to the superstar level he is today.

Vinicius scored 14 goals for the first team in his first three seasons. In the fourth, he scored 22 and provided 16 assists. Since that turning point, he has scored the remaining 86 in three and a half more seasons. With this tally, he also became the 23rd player to reach 100 goals for Real Madrid in official competition and equalled Fernando Morientes' 100. He trails Ivan Zamorano (101), Sergio Ramos (102) and Ronaldo Nazario (104) in the top 20.

Currently, the player from Sao Gonçalo is the tenth foreigner with the most goals in the history of Real Madrid. As we said, he has the Chilean and his compatriot in his sights, but he could also overtake Gareth Bale (106) this season and it is only a matter of time before he catches up with Gonzalo Higuain (121). If nothing changes and at this rate, he may also overtake Hugo Sanchez (207) and Ferenc Puskas (242) in a few years' time. Let's see if in the future he will be on the podium, although he will have to overtake Alfredo Di Stefano (308) to do so. And that would still leave Karim Benzema (354) and above all Cristiano Ronaldo (450), the number one of all. This seems rather impossible.

 

January 23, 2025