Vinicius, the golden boy who signs another historic comeback against Dortmund
Ancelotti's board is not the best in the world. His designs are falling apart as the season progresses and his son is unable to find the best system to help all the stars that Real Madrid accumulate in the attacking zone shine.
In Balaídos, Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo by inertia. But the image of a desperate Ancelotti trying to play a team with a three-man defence and two wingers will go down in history. Nothing has been the same since the departure of Kroos, but neither has the arrival of Mbappé. The Frenchman is not out of place, far from it, but neither does he make the difference because Vinicius has decided to continue leading this team that will give him his first Ballon d'Or on 28 October.
The Dortmund of Nuri Sahin, the midfielder who barely played 10 games in white, arrived at the Bernabéu as leaders of the new Champions League, although with a poor record in the Bundesliga. Many departures and names that no one knew from the last Champions League final between the two teams. Gittens and Guirassy were the most prominent in attack along with Malen who scored the second goal. Nmecha helped in midfield and, together with Gittens' goal, Sahin went in at half-time with a 0-2 lead that provoked some whistles in the stands. Not too many because the fans know what can happen on a Champions League night. And it happened.
Minutes before the break, Bellingham had the chance to score with a shot against the crossbar, after Rodrygo's post. It was the awakening that came in the second half. Another candid header from the Englishman could have made it 1-2, but it was Rüdiger who provided the bite and the intensity to head home the opener in the 60th minute and send the Bernabéu into raptures. The comeback was on and Dortmund were invited to their own funeral.
Sahin helped 10 minutes into the second half by taking off Gittens, who was destroying Lucas Vázquez, and bringing on Anton, a centre-back who was to close the holes in the white avalanche. Incautious. Good old Sahin lost the game completely when, in the 76th minute, he brought on Emre Can at right-back. Vinicius smelt blood on that flank and did not shy away from tackling a 30-year-old who has always played in midfield. In the 62nd minute, the Brazilian had already made it 2-2 and it only remained to be seen how many more would be scored by a team totally committed to scoring goals and running more in the second half than their opponents and much more than in the dreadful first half.
Lucas Vázquez made amends for his mistakes with the 3-2 on a run down his flank with a perfect finish into the inside of the net that anyone else would have blasted into the roof of the net. The 4-2 scoreline was a spectacle that reminded Emilio Butragueno himself of Pele, he said after the game. A 70-metre Vinicius run from which Can resigned after 10 metres to shoot past Kobel from the edge of the area and send the Bernabéu wild as the German fans witnessed yet another miracle in the Castellana. The 5-2 scoreline came from Vinicius's left-footed left-footed drive into the back of the net and a warning to Barça that Saturday's Clasico will not be easy no matter how well Flick's side play.
After the hurricane came the calm. Real Madrid discovered that Rodrygo and Courtois will miss the game against Barça due to muscle injuries. They also confirmed that they don't know what to play this season and that Modric is not the team's mainstay. Neither is Tchouaméni or Camavinga. Güler is asking for more minutes, Brahim is out until December and Ceballos doesn't have enough experience, although he is starting to become a regular resource for Ancelotti.
Barely a reference to Mbappé in this chronicle. The Frenchman had a night of magic, the same one that several years ago was a nightmare for him after the comeback to 14th place. But he didn't contribute more, perhaps overshadowed by Vinicius, perhaps because he plays where he doesn't know how. The same goes for Bellingham, who has become a sweeper in midfield, many yards from goal. All these problems are the ones that should be keeping Ancelotti awake at night, but they don't, because, as the Italian says, ‘it's not the board, it's the attitude’.
