It may have had little riding on the game following a 4-0 first leg win in October, but Real Madrid secured progress in the Copa del Rey to the last 16 by seeing off Segunda Division B group leaders UD Melilla with a 6-1 win on Thursday. There were braces for Isco and Marco Asensio with goals for Javi Sanchez and Vinicius Junior. Here, our tactical analysis will use statistics to identify what key points Real Madrid can take from the game as they secured a win at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Vinicius Junior is on the bench for a reason
A goal and an assist. Yet Vinicius Junior should still be disappointed with his performance. The Brazilian had plenty of the ball, an incredible 14 touches in the box, but never capitalised on it. With an incredible xG of 2.2, he underscored significantly and was beyond wasteful in front of goal. Even when he did score, he took two attempts and was lucky that it deflected into the back of the net off a flailing leg from the Melilla goalkeeper. To then perform a dance to celebrate merely added to the concern that Vinicius may not yet be ready for first team action, as he has seen his involvement plummet under Solari.
The Brazilian showed pace and skill, though sometimes too much of the latter as his tricks went wrong and ended in humiliation, which added a threat. There is no doubting that Vinicius has talent, but it remains very raw. Getting the best out of that talent could be what makes or breaks Solari as a coach. Whats more, it could be decisive to the future of Real Madrid for the next decade.
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