Vinicius' injury.. Will it give Mbappe a chance for a strong start with Real Madrid?

Real Madrid announced that Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior suffered a hamstring injury, which will keep him out of action for a while for his team, Real Madrid, the Spanish League and UEFA Champions League champions.

"After tests carried out today, our player Vinicius Junior has been diagnosed by Real Madrid's medical services with an injury to the hamstring in his left thigh," the club said in a statement.

"Crazy schedule, now it's time to recover," the player wrote on his Instagram account. Vinicius has scored eight goals in 13 La Liga games this season and 12 goals in 18 games in all competitions.

El loco calendario……A RECUPERAR! 🙏🏿 https://t.co/oqSnKkP5MT

—Vini Jr. (@vinijr) November 25, 2024

Mbappe's chance

France national football team striker, Kylian Mbappe (25 years old), will have the opportunity to play on the left of Real Madrid's attack, taking advantage of the injury of Brazilian Vinicius Junior (24 years old), who will miss the upcoming matches of the royal club.

The Frenchman will be the first choice for Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti in this position, given that Real Madrid does not have many options on the left of the attack.

The Frenchman prefers to play on the left of the attack, a position in which he excelled with Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and the French national team, but when he joined Real Madrid, he found competition from the Brazilian player, who is considered the first choice for the Italian coach, and Ancelotti previously admitted that Mbappe wants to play in this position.

Ancelotti started the 2024-25 season by keeping Vinicius on the left and putting Mbappe in the middle, but when the "Meringue" coach felt that the Frenchman was useless in this position, he changed his position to the left instead of "Vini", and put the Englishman Jude Bellingham behind them, which is what he did against Osasuna and Leganes, where Real Madrid played their best matches this season.

🔥🔥 Mbappe opens the scoring for Real Madrid after a great pass from Vinicius #LaLiga | #Leganes_Real_Madrid #LaLiga pic.twitter.com/KFlR4kZG6K

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) November 24, 2024

Ancelotti also found a solution to the penalty shootout dilemma, giving the players the task equally, one by one, with the possibility of Bellingham entering the rotation in the future, but that depends mainly on Vinicius and Mbappe, who have scored all the penalties they have taken so far (3 each).

The matter also extended to making changes, as Ancelotti wants all the players - specifically Vinicius and Mbappe - to accept this decision with a big smile, and this happened during Real Madrid's match against Osasuna when the Brazilian was substituted despite scoring 3 goals (a hat-trick), while the Frenchman remained on the field.

The opposite happened in the Leganes match, when Ancelotti substituted Mbappe, who scored the first goal, and kept Vinicius on the field.

"These details have created a wonderful partnership between the players, with each player having 50% of the game, thanks to Ancelotti, who leads a duo that will bring happiness to Real Madrid, especially since there is no team in the world that has the attacking capabilities that Los Blancos have, which has brought together two of the best footballers in the world. Details that, despite their simplicity, are not without risk," Marca said.

Source: Marca + Al-Araby Al-Jadeed