Real Madrid announced Monday that forward Vinicius Junior will miss the Champions League match against Liverpool due to a hamstring injury.
“After tests taken today our player Vinicius Junior has been diagnosed by Real Madrid’s medical services with a hamstring injury in his left leg,” the team said in a statement.
Spanish media stated that the Brazilian winger will miss roughly a month, including Wednesday’s meeting at Anfield and the Champions League match at Atalanta on December 10. Vinicius set up Kylian Mbappe for the opening goal in Madrid’s 3-0 La Liga triumph over Leganes on Sunday. He played the complete 90 minutes.
“The crazy calendar… now to recover,” wrote the 24-year-old on X.
On Sunday, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez criticised UEFA and FIFA for increasing match programmes. This year’s Champions League has eight group matches instead of six and an extra round for clubs below the top eight.
Madrid has several long-term problems, notably Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao with significant knee injuries, which Perez blamed on more matches.
“This season we could play 82 matches — there are 63 percent more matches organised by UEFA and FIFA, from 22 to 36,” he said.
Nine ACL ruptures have occurred in La Liga this season, the same as last year. Fatigue is blamed by specialists.”
Vinicius has outperformed summer signing Mbappe so far this season. The Ballon d’Or runner-up has four Champions League goals in four games and eight La Liga goals in 13 games.
Champions League holders With two losses in four matches, Madrid has started their European season poorly. They finished 18th in the extended group table after losing 1-0 at Lille and 3-1 at home to AC Milan in their last two matches.
Liverpool leads the Champions League and Premier League under new coach Arne Slot.
