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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Amanda Langell

Vinicius Junior Makes Bold Real Madrid Prediction for Xabi Alonso’s Debut Campaign

Xabi Alonso Real Madrid Vinicius Junior Vinícius Júnior UEFA Champions League FC Barcelona La Liga
Vinícius Júnior will hope to bounce back from an underwhelming season. | IMAGO/NurPhoto

After Real Madrid failed to win a major trophy last season, Vinícius Júnior predicts the club will return to dominance in both Spain and Europe.

Beyond Kylian Mbappé’s historic debut season, not many positives came out of Real Madrid’s 2024–25 campaign. Los Blancos failed to defend their La Liga, Champions League and Spanish Super Cup titles, and suffered four defeats to Barcelona across all competitions.

Many of Real Madrid’s issues stemmed from a defensive injury crisis, but an underwhelming season from Vinícius Júnior also hurt the Spanish giants. The Brazilian only scored 11 league goals in 30 appearances and found the back of the net just once in the Champions League knockout stage.

The superstar winger has seemingly put last season behind him, though, and is coming into Real Madrid’s first campaign under Xabi Alonso with silverware on the mind.

The Real Madrid winger quickly replied, “yessir” to the comment.

After a busy summer, Real Madrid have all the pieces to claim the club’s first-ever treble. The Spanish giants brought in two much-needed defensive reinforcements in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, and still are hoping to sign Benfica’s Álvaro Carreras.

Franco Mastantuono is also making the move to the Spanish capital once he turns 18 in August, giving Alonso a young, talented addition that can play as a No. 10 or on the right wing.

The new signings, combined with Real Madrid’s already star-studded squad, make the 15-time Champions League winners one of the most dangerous teams in the world.

Still, they will have to put all the pieces together under Alonso if they really want to dethrone Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Barcelona in La Liga and the Copa del Rey. The pressure is on Alonso to get Real Madrid back to glory, but he will need Vinícius Júnior to rediscover his dominant form along the way.

READ THE LATEST REAL MADRID NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Vinicius Junior Makes Bold Real Madrid Prediction for Xabi Alonso’s Debut Campaign.

On Vinícius Júnior’s recent Instagram post detailing his time in the United States, a fan commented, “Treble this season”.
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