Vinicius Junior is quietly rooting for Carlos Espi to play more
Real Madrid starting striker Kylian Mbappe had another disastrous performance, reminiscent of the many he had in the second half of the 2025/26 La Liga season when the Royal Whites totally fell out of the league title race against Barcelona.
Despite receiving so many chances to score, including obvious ones that Arda Guler and Vinicius Junior passed to him on a silver platter, Mbappe did not score a single goal. He even missed a penalty that was struck with no quality, and that led to Real Madrid losing 1-0 to Real Betis.
Yet after the game, there are still so many Real Madrid fans who are lumping Vinicuis in with Mbappe or even blaming Vinicius for the loss, even though he had a great game despite the defeat. Only Man of the Match Arda Guler produced more chances than Vini's four, and Vini had to do much more hard work on the ball in terms of dribbling and progressing the play, which was essential for Madrid, especially with the fullbacks and box to box midfielders doing less than jack to the Real Betis defense.
Carlos Espi may suit Vinicius Jr. better as a tandem
Real Madrid fans are not appreciating what Vinicius Jr. does to drive the team forward and generate chances out wide, and he would benefit a lot more from having a more clinical, box presence and true No. 9 at the center forward position in Carlos Espi.
When Espi came into the game in the second half, he nearly tied things up with a disallowed goal and was much more lively than Mbappe in terms of linking up with others and getting in good positions. After his winner late against Espanyol on Matchday 1 in which he pretty much spared Mbappe's blushes, Madridstas are wondering why the new signing from Levante is not playing even more for Jose Mourinho.
In a meritocracy, there is a real chance that Espi helps Real Madrid win more games as a starter than Kylian Mbappe, even though the Frenchman is a bigger name. And with how much better Vinicius Jr. played with either Karim Benzema or even Jude Bellingham in the middle, you have to think that he is quietly rooting for the more physical Carlos Espi to usurp Mbappe.
That is surely never going to happen, but Espi fits how Vinicius Jr. plays a lot better than Mbappe was. And though after the first Matchday people were wondering about a lineup with Mbappe on the left and Espi in the middle, perhaps it is really one with Vini on the left and Espi in the middle that can get the Merengues firing.
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