Carlo Ancelotti explains how Vinicius Junior can become the best in the world at Real Madrid

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti declared over the weekend that playing at the level he did against Girona, Vinicius Junior was the best in the world. He doubled down on that assessment on Monday.

Los Blancos come off the back of putting down a statement in La Liga, and opening up a five-point gap to the Catalans, to returning to European action in Germany against RB Leipzig. Ancelotti was asked about Vinicius again on Monday though.

“If he achieves that continuity, yes. He has a lot of quality and puts a lot of intensity into his dribbles and sprints… If he does it consistently during the 90 minutes, it shows because there are rivals who can’t deal with him in the second half,” Ancelotti explained ahead of their clash with RB Leipzig.

Vinicius was heavily involved in their win over Girona, scoring a screamer to open the scoring, and inventing a brilliant assist for Jude Bellingham. After that match too, he motivated Vinicius to do so more consistently, claiming when he ‘plays with the attitude’ he’s the best in the world.

It was also put to him that six months into the season, Real Madrid have lost just twice, and that this might be his best season ever, after significant discussion over whether it was Toni Kroos’ best.

“As a streak, maybe so… I see a solid, serious, motivated team, with a good atmosphere, no one complains, everyone contributes… Everything is going well at the moment despite so many difficulties we had… It was thanks to character of the players.”

Last year Ancelotti was often quick to highlight that the dressing room was one of the best he had possessed as a manager, and later in the press conference would again point to the character of the veterans as a key factor in the smooth transition to the younger generation.