Wednesday evening sees Vinicius Junior return to Manchester City's Etihad Stadium for a third time. He does so in the best form of his career and as a player transformed since his first outing at the ground in August 2020.
You might recall what happened on Vinicius Jr's most recent trip to City's stadium. On April 26, 2022, he scored a brilliant solo goal when his team were 3-1 down. Real Madrid were beaten 4-3 on the night, but they overcame the English side in the second leg of an epic Champions League semi-final.
Vinicius Jr was already a crucial part of Carlo Ancelotti's squad by that point and he went on to score the winner against Liverpool in the final. But even in the short time since, the 22-year-old Brazil international has made huge strides in his game.
That was clear for everyone to see last week as he scored another superb goal at another crucial moment to give Madrid the lead at the Santiago Bernabeu against City in this season's Champions League semi-finals, with their first leg finishing 1-1.
Last summer, Real Madrid renewed his contract, extending his deal from 2024 until 2027 and raising his release clause from €350million ($380m; £305m) to €1billion. His salary was also increased, from €3.2m a year plus bonuses to around €12m a year. Club president Florentino Perez, who fell in love with the player from the start, values not only his performances but his professionalism.
And on that subject, there is much to say.
There is a popular phrase often heard in the NBA: availability is a skill. Few fit better with Vinicius Jr.
In 2019, he missed nine matches through injury and was out for 58 days due to a torn knee ligament. Apart from that, he has only been unavailable for selection twice: once with a stomach virus (three days absent, one match missed) and once with COVID-19 (nine days absent, two matches missed).
If Vinicius Jr has suffered only one major injury since joining Madrid in July 2018, it is primarily because of dedicated work on his physical condition that goes beyond what is required with club training. It seems all the more remarkable when you know he is the most-fouled player in Europe's top five leagues this season.
Beyond the team sessions at Madrid's Valdebebas training ground, he has long held daily workouts at home, both at his previous address and at his new house in a luxurious development at La Moraleja, to the north of Madrid.
There, the player has a private gym. It is a place to work both body and mind.
In the gym, Vinicius Jr has had a large mural painted that runs along several walls. Various important sporting figures are depicted: LeBron James with open arms raised high; Cristiano Ronaldo performing his “siuu!” celebration in the white of Real Madrid; Michael Jordan celebrating with the Chicago Bulls; Ronaldo Nazario celebrating with an index finger outstretched, again with Real Madrid; and Kobe Bryant, arms outstretched in the LA Lakers jersey. From another wall, Brazil's most iconic player, O Rei (The King) Pele, looks on.
“They are his idols and his inspiration, each in his own way,” a member of Vinicius Jr's entourage told The Athletic.
There are also many framed NFL jerseys: that of Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals' number nine; Saquon Barkley, New York Giants' number 26; JuJu Smith-Schuster, New England Patriots' number nine; and JJ Watt, with the 99 of the Houston Texans he wore before retiring.
There are more than 10 exercise machines, six different kettlebell weights, 20 dumbbells, several balance domes and box jumps with three levels (30cm, 45cm, 60cm). Behind a glass partition, there is an indoor pool with hot and very cold water, for recovery.
Vinicius Jr also uses, and has done since June 2020, a hyperbaric chamber (pictured above). The equipment is most commonly associated with treating decompression sickness suffered by deep-sea divers, with patients breathing in pure oxygen rather than the 21 per cent found in our atmosphere. It is conducive to recovery and Vinicius Jr normally uses it 90 minutes per day, with oxygen of 95 per cent purity.
There is also a machine that pilots use to train their reflexes, which is especially useful during pre-season and the season's early stages.
The time Vinicius Jr spends in his gym can easily vary, as every day is different because of a demanding and often-changing routine. There is no specific formula and the schedule depends on club training, days off or his condition after matches, with thermal imaging analysis also performed to get as clear a picture as possible.
Vinicius Jr celebrates his goal against Man City (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
But on the whole, the winger tends to spend between two and three hours a day there, almost always in the company of Brazilian physiotherapist Thiago Lobo.
The specialist oversees every detail of Vinicius Jr's preparation. He is the mechanic who keeps the machine in tune. He arrived in Madrid when the player was recovering from his serious knee injury in 2019, but with the idea that he would stay indefinitely.
“One of Vinicius' successes is that he acts out of conviction. Sometimes he doesn't want to do something, but he knows he needs to do it and he has to do it,” Lobo explains in a documentary produced on the player: Vini, For Real.
Lobo also supervises the attacker's diet. It is he who 'forces' Vinicius Jr to drink beetroot juice. The player has to dilute it with water to help with the taste.
But Lobo, who even accompanies Vinicius Jr and his friends on holiday, is not the only professional around the Brazilian.
There are 25 specialists from TFM Agency working exclusively for him: a manager, two assistant managers, a communications manager, a social media manager, a filmmaker, a logistics manager, a chef, physiotherapist Lobo, a driver and 15 others focused on the Vini Jr Institute, the player's charity project in Brazil.
This group of people, along with family and friends, are also responsible for correcting, encouraging and protecting Vinicius Jr — something that has been especially necessary in recent months.
(Photo: Manuel Reino Berengui/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
As well as being persistently fouled, Vinicius Jr has also been subject to racist abuse at several Spanish football grounds this season.
Off the pitch, he was compared to a monkey on mainstream Spanish TV in September. In January, an effigy of the player was hung from a motorway bridge close to Real Madrid's training ground before a match with city rivals Atletico.
In the Spanish media, he is often portrayed in a negative light; as tempestuous, unruly or disrespectful. Often, more airtime is given to this than the racist abuse he receives.
Vinicius Jr and his entourage have consistently repeated the message that more should be done to tackle the racist abuse he has suffered.
They believe Spanish referees should do more to protect him on the pitch, too, and that players like him, who often look to dribble past opponents, are better protected in the Champions League or the World Cup. They also highlight the difference in attitude shown by opponents outside of La Liga towards Vinicius Jr, such as when Kyle Walker warmly embraced him after last week's 1-1 draw in Madrid.
When you look back to August 2020 — the Brazilian's first trip to City — you can really see how far he has come.
It was a Champions League last-16 second leg delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. City had won the first leg 2-1 in Madrid on February 26 that year.
For the return match in Manchester, then-Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane named Vinicius Jr as a substitute. He had turned 20 the month before and had spent two years with the senior squad. But Zidane, who was in his second spell in charge, was still not fully convinced by his talents and, in truth, he never really would be.
In the build-up to kick-off, those starting the game went out to warm up on the pitch. Zidane was out there, too. When they returned to the changing rooms, some of the substitutes were using their mobile phones, including Vinicius Jr.
Zidane did not react at the time, but he decided not to bring on Vinicius Jr, despite everybody expecting him to and the situation demanding it. The club's supporters, as well as several members of the board, were surprised not to see the forward involved as Madrid were knocked out with another 2-1 defeat.
Vinicius Jr on his debut on September 29, 2018 (Photo: Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
After the match, Zidane told club officials of his frustration that players were using their phones before kick-off. Vinicius Jr apologised to the Frenchman.
Over the 2020-21 campaign that followed, he played 2,722 minutes, scoring six times and providing seven assists. He was still not a guaranteed starter — but at the end of that season, Zidane left and Ancelotti came in. Since the Italian's arrival, Vinicius Jr's impact at Madrid has grown and grown.
The 2021-2022 campaign was spectacular. He managed 22 goals and 20 assists in 4,267 minutes. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema had achieved numbers over 20 in both metrics for Madrid in recent years. The curious thing is that Vinicius Jr's staff had challenged him to go up from six to 12 goals, a figure they considered reasonable in their own growth plan, taking into account the stage of his career and his position on the left flank.
In one of Ancelotti's first meetings with Madrid executives, back before he was appointed in June 2021, the Italian made clear he fully believed in Vinicius Jr's potential. Since then, he has praised him several times, describing him “as the most decisive player in world football” in February.
“We have coincided with him at the time he was ready for his explosion,” a source from Madrid's coaching staff, who preferred not to be identified in order to protect relationships, told The Athletic.
“We have done some individual work on his game, but only exploring his profile a bit; the way he shoots, the areas where he shoots from. He tends to shoot from tight angles because he is usually close to the back-line, so it's then how to do those shots, whether to work with the outside, the inside or the toe.
“What Vinicius has done in these two years is thanks to him. We have only been there to give him the confidence he deserves because he makes you win games. He's a very cheerful lad who works well. He has done everything himself.”
Today, there is no question at all over Vinicius Jr's place in Madrid's starting XI. He already has 23 goals and 21 assists so far this season. Since the City defeat in 2020 in which he did not feature, he has played in 36 straight Champions League games.
This is everything people normally do not see with Vinicius Jr and it all adds up to shape his performance on the pitch.
It helps explain why he is so loved in Madrid — and why Manchester City know they have to be on alert again.