Vinicius serves the table for Real Madrid’s victory in Braga before the classic encounter

Vinicius He was the Whites’ key man and confirmed his growth following the injury that caused him to miss competitions for a month. He made two assists, one to Rodrygo and the other to Bellingham.he even scored a goal that was disallowed for an almost imperceptible offside. Madrid didn’t need that to beat a Braga team that only broke the deadlock when they lost 0-2. Even though it caused the whites to suffocate a little in the last quarter hour, it was too late.

An environment with personality

At a time when stadiums tend to become impersonal in the football image, looking like luxurious and cold photocopies of each other beyond the facade decorations, it is admirable to see a field like the Champions League. Champions League from Braga. Beautiful or ugly is up to everyone’s taste. Stepless bases give La Cantera a special and unrepeatable aroma.

It is a traditional ground with a capacity of only 30,000 spectators, where Real Madrid glances at the classic. This explains Substitutions of Tchouaméni and Kroos and ownership by Modric Today it is a reserve in the mind of Carlo Ancelotti, who also booked Alaba (however doubtful) and could not rely on Joselu due to a last-minute illness.

The Spain international’s absence has put the onus on Rodrygo, who has been left dry in front of goal since the first day of LaLiga’s bingo in San Mamés. It is reckless to complain about playing as a striker when his numbers show that he is not ready to play as a starter in the Real Madrid team right now.

Rodrygo’s goal

But the striker is in his profession, and whether Rodrygo is a center or not, the murmurs dissipate with the goals. Taking advantage of Braga’s shaky defense, the Brazilian player worked together with his compatriot Vinicius and left Real Madrid’s game behind in the 16th minute. ‘7’ entered from the wing, Serdar gave him air after his initial poor control and He sent the ball low so Rodrygo could anticipate fellow centre-back Niakaté and beat Matheus..

Until then, Braga had a certain regional dominance over the party.Thanks to some silly losses on release (Camavinga is explosive but still has work to do to become a reliable positional midfielder) but he couldn’t scare Kepa. They did this several times after the goal, with two of their shots blocked by Bellingham and Rüdiger, but as the break approached Madrid took complete control of the duel, even without scoring a second goal.

Football history has provided many examples of the negative consequences of not giving a penalty when it could have been done. But Madrid was not invaded by this fear because I felt so superior to Bragaespecially from Vinicius, who made the night difficult for the Portuguese defence, seemingly without much effort.

Bellingham’s goal

After two tries by Bellingham and Camavinga, The second goal came in match time. After receiving the ball from Vinicius, who assisted his second goal of the game, the English player scored the goal with a stylish pass to the goal from the edge of the penalty area.

That’s when Braga showed a surprising ability to unravel himself in the face of his predictable fate.Spaniard Álvaro Djaló took advantage of Fran García’s defensive error to close the gap just two minutes after Bellingham’s goal. Horta almost achieved the draw shortly after. Kepa was very lucky in action.

Braga was getting into Real Madrid’s beards, something like that Ancelotti tried to fix it by adding Tchouaméni and Mendy to the case for the last quarter of an hour. The Whites took advantage of the counter-attack opportunity, but Vinicius’ goal was disallowed due to half-shoulder offside. Or less. And Madrid suffered but achieved a victory that did not strengthen them in the classical sense but almost left them in the second round of the Champions League.