Vinicius Junior could lose his historic Clasico crown without even kicking a ball
Real Madrid are facing a Clasico test that will impact the league title race far more than the club would want to accept. If they win, they will try to play it safe and say that they are still three points behind.
If they lose, they are going to give the media-friendly answer on how there is still a long way to go before the end of the season. In reality, though, they would know that the league title race woud be over with a bad result.
A draw definitely favours Barcelona more than Real Madrid, but it is still a six-point deficit that, in theory, is much more attainable than the nine points Los Blancos would trail their biggest rivals by in the event of a loss.
However, to Vinicius Junior, that is not the only thing that would matter. Of course, he is not playing the Clasico due to a four-match suspension that is not going to help his confidence all that much this season.
Raphinha could break a Clasico record set by Vinicius Junior
However, there is still, for Vinicius Junior, bragging rights to be claimed. Right now, Vinicius Junior is the highest-scoring Brazilian in El Clasico history with eight goals in the competition, which is a very impressive record when you think of the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and so many other Brazilian legends who have played this fixture.
Raphinha, at the moment, is just one goal behind his teammate, and that is why the Real Madrid star's record is in jeapordy, and the worst part is that he cannot even control that.
Real Madrid would need to win and somehow limit free scoring Raphinha to zero goals. Even if he scores one, he would equal Vinicius Junior, and he probably would not want that. Still, that would be much better than a brace.
Raphinha has not been at the club for that long, which is why it is quite impressive that he is already second on the list. Eclipsing Vinicius Junior could obviously impact the Real Madrid man in a negative way, given the form he is in at the moment.
Obviously, if Vinicius Junior had the choice of either seeing his team beat Barcelona in the Clasico or keep the record intact, he would obviously choose the former and would not think twice about it, but it would definitely give him a psychological boost if he is to remain the top scorer of the fixture from his country.
On the other hand, he might not even care about it, but football players generally keep track of these things more than they would like to admit, and being an international teammate of Raphinha, Vinicius Junior would not want to lose this record to him.
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