Vinicius Junior scored a sensational hat-trick to lead Real Madrid to a 4-0 win over Osasuna on Saturday evening.
The Brazilian forward put a difficult last few weeks behind him with his second hat-trick of the season after missing out on the Balloon d’Or award last month.
He opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a top corner from finish that flew pass Osasuna goalkeeper.
Jude Bellingham scored his first goal of the season, finishing off a superb long pass from Asencio to make it 2-0 just before halftime.
Vinicius added two more goals in the second half to complete his hat-trick.
He has now scored two hat-tricks this season, with the first one coming against Dortmund in the Champions League.
Eder Militao and Rodrigo both limped off in the encounter to add to Real Madrid’s injury crisis.
Ancelotti was impressed with his team’s attitude in bouncing back from a difficult week after suffering two consecutive home defeats to Barcelona and AC Milan.
He said, “It was a good match. We started off in control, without too much of a rush, and when we opened the scoring through Vinicius, the match went well. The team put in a good performance, with more attitude and commitment. The problem is the three injuries in the first half, which we are now assessing.
“The team’s attitude improved defensively. We were organised, without taking risks and showing good collective commitment. That’s what made the difference in the match.”
He was also full of praise for Vinicius following his match-winning performance.
Ancelotti said: “For us, Vinicius is a player who can make the difference. He did that again today as he’s done on other occasions. The Ballon d’Or ceremony is a small detail that hasn’t affected him. Many times they come over to the bench to celebrate.
“Vinicius is a player who makes and will continue to make a difference. He’s a very important player for us.”
Real Madrid confirmed in a statement shortly after the game that Eder Militao has suffered a knee injury which is expected to rule him out of the season.
The statement read, “Following tests carried out today on Eder Militão by Real Madrid’s medical department, the player has been diagnosed with a complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament with damage to both meniscuses in his right leg. Militão will undergo surgery in the coming days.”
Ancelotti revealed that the club will assess the transfer window in January to add to the team.
He said, “We’ll assess that in the coming months because there’s nothing we can do now. We have to try to recover as many players as possible and we’ll assess what we can do. I’m not thinking about the transfer market because we have games between now and the Christmas break. I have to prepare the games with the players I have. Valverde played at full-back today and he did well. Raúl also helped the team. This is what we have. We did well last year and we’ll do the same this year.”
The hat-trick hero, Vinicius was delighted with the team’s performance, but disappointed with the injuries to Militao and Rodrigo.
He said, “Today, we played very well, which we haven’t been doing in the last few games. But I’m also sad for Militão, Rodrygo and Lucas. It’s a shame that it’s happened to us so many times this season. Hopefully, we can stick together for them and they can come back as soon as possible. I’m very pleased with the goals, but I feel sad that Militão has to go through that again.”
Up next for Real Madrid in the La Liga is a trip to Leganes after the international break.
Vinicius Scores Another Hat-trick As Real Madrid Defeat Osasuna 4-0 is first published on The Whistler Newspaper