Real Madrid v Man City: Parallel paths of Vinicius and Haaland collide in UCL semi-finals

Shortly after Real Madrid lifted the Copa del Rey and a warm Saturday night in Seville spilt into the early hours of Sunday, the Madrid president Florentino Perez was grumbling about scheduling and praising the contribution to the final, a 2-1 win over Osasuna, of Vinicius Junior. “The best player in the world in his position”, Perez said of the Brazilian.

Vinicius had dazzled along his left flank. Both goals, scored by his compatriot winger Rodrygo, had their origins in jet-heeled Vinicius dribbles. He was tireless, too. Perez’s concerns about fatigue, with the Spanish Cup winners hosting Manchester City on Tuesday night in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final, were largely for other players.

Not the least of Vinicius’s virtues is his stamina. No Madrid player has been on the pitch for more minutes across the six competitions they, as defending Liga and European champions, have been involved in. He has played 46 matches, scored 22 goals and directly assisted another 21.

These are startling statistics, and were it not for the towering numbers attaching to Vinicius’ contemporary, Erling Haaland, Perez might have declared his man not just peerless as a left winger but as the best 22-year-old attacking footballer in the world.

The privilege for the Bernabeu is to see Haaland and Vinicius – 102 goals or assists between them this season – share a stage for the first time in careers that have climbed a similar, precocious trajectory while refining very different skills.

They were born nine days apart, in the first July of the new millennium, Vinicius Junior to a hardscrabble childhood in Rio de Janeiro, Haaland in Leeds, England. He would grow up being casually referred to as Haaland Junior, because his father, the Norway international Alfie Haaland, was a relatively famous player, and until this season, the best-known Haaland to have played for Manchester City, who he joined from Leeds United.

As gifted teenagers, preset pathways defined Vini Jr and Haaland Jr’s ambitions. Once Vinicius had made his debut in May 2017 in top-flight Brazilian football for Flamengo, accelerated up the ranks because of his speed and confidence with the ball, he was already committed to a career in Europe, the standard next step for talented South Americans.

When Haaland made his debut in the highest level of the Norwegian league, for Molde in June 2017, his potential as a centre-forward was already recognised and a plan to streamline his development sketched out.

Just as Madrid, who officially signed Vinicius on his 18th birthday, need no hard sell in recommending themselves to a Brazilian teenagers with a sense of flair – in Vinicius’s lifetime they have been the club of Ronaldo Nazario, Robinho and Kaka – Borussia Dortmund, with their reputation for trusting and nurturing young players, was an obvious destination for Haaland.

His springboard between Molde and there would be Red Bull Salzburg, another fine school for forwards and with participation in European competition guaranteed.

Haaland relished the Champions League from day one, his debut in it featuring a hat-trick for Salzburg against the Belgian club Genk. In the same 2019-20 group phase Vinicius scored the first of his 14 European Cup goals – against the Belgians of Bruges.

The upwards march since has been steep. Vinicius is now immortalised in Madrid’s decorated European Cup history as the match-winner in a final. Haaland calmly assumes the pressures of being earmarked to transform City from nearly-men in Europe to champions. “I’m here to try to develop the club, to try to win the Champions League for the first time,” he said after scoring five times in the last-16 tie against RB Leipzig.

If he makes the difference in this semi-final, he will be easily cast as the decisive X-factor. A year ago, City looked favourites to win the Champions League until Madrid eliminated them with an extraordinary comeback.

Haaland joined City the following month. With his 51 goals – 12 of them in eight Champions League matches – so far, he can look back with amusement at early criticisms that he seemed isolated, registering low numbers of touches with the ball.

Vinicius can also smile about the times when he was derided within Madrid for taking too many touches, not adding end-product to his dribbles.

For Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid’s manager, the policing of Haaland is Tuesday’s major headache, with his most trusted marker at centre-back, Eder Militao, suspended. And for Pep Guardiola, the City manager who has been experimenting with variations to his right-back position, with John Stones operating in a fluid role and Kyle Walker, the specialist, dropping down Guardiola’s hierarchy, the threat of Vinicius demands a clear-eyed tactical plan.