Vinícius complains about “crazy calendar” – injury already in the first half?

There are only seven left. Seven players at Real Madridwho have not had an injury this season: alongside Arda Güler, Endrick, Fran García, Andriy Lunin and Luka Modrić, there are only two absolute regulars on this short list: Antonio Rüdiger and Federico Valverde. Until recently, Vinícius Junior also, but against Leganés (3-0) the 24-year-old was also injured.

Because of his injured thigh he now has to sit out for around three weeks and will probably not return until mid-December. Was the problem foreseeable, given how often Vini plays? After all, Carlo Ancelotti left him on the pitch after 180 minutes with Brazil, and the associated travel stresses, even when the score was 2-0, and substituted Kylian Mbappé instead, who had no international matches. For Vinícius, it is clear why there are so many injuries at the moment: “the crazy calendar.” At least that’s what the Brazilian wrote on X, along with: “Regenerate now!”

Calendar here, full load with little rotation there, there are many reasons – but the players are also increasingly bearing a certain amount of responsibility. For example, a picture is circulating from Sunday’s mini-derby that shows Vini touching his now injured left thigh during the first half. The fact that players do not always communicate honestly enough has long been a problem for Ancelotti, as he End 2022 once explained: “The player is not so honest about this. Even though he is tired, he thinks he feels good. Sometimes not being honest can get you hurt.“

In the case of Vinícius, a longer period of absence could possibly have been avoided, not only through the calendar and more frequent rotation – after all, Vinícius is the player with the third most minutes – but also through a different attitude among the players: more honesty, less pressure to always have to play. At least other stars can learn from this, because before Vini (1.522 minutes), only the other regular players who are not yet injured have accumulated more minutes: Valverde (1.527) and Rüdiger (1.537).