Valdano's Claim: Unexpected Blame for the Vinicius Debacle Falls on Xabi Alonso!

Jorge Valdano believes Xabi Alonso's departure seriously damaged Vinícius Júnior's standing at Real Madrid.

According to "Sports Three", Vinicius Jr. is in one of those stages where every move becomes twice as important. Real Madrid survived Rome's Stadio Olimpico with an epic comeback, but the game put Vinicius under the spotlight after being criticized by Jose Mourinho. His performance has again sparked debate and Jorge Valdano has pointed to an event that he believes was a turning point in the player's relationship with Real Madrid: the departure of Xabi Alonso.

In an interview with Movie Star Plus, in response to the question about Vinicius' performance drop, Valdano attributed the burnout to the events of last season and how it was interpreted by some Real Madrid fans: "He is a very influential player. These types of players should be in contention because they are very important, but he has to understand that in a team as rich as Real Madrid, there are nights where he is uninspiring and he can help the team by making changes that could be detrimental to him.

The changes that took place last year hurt his presence at Real Madrid, as many fans and the club blamed him for the departure of Xabi Alonso. "So now he understands the mindset of Real Madrid fans and, well, being the smart guy he is, he has to start understanding his role in the team on days that are inspiring and days that are not."

He also pointed out Vinicius' mistake in one of Rome's goals. The mistake affected his performance in the game and became a pretext for a wider examination of his impact in the offensive phase: "This mistake affects the flow of the game and will be discussed a lot, but besides this mistake, he was very low energy. We don't see him break the balance five times and attempt fifteen times per game anymore... we don't see this happening as often as we used to see it."

Valdano pointed to a lack of continuity in the qualities that made Vinicius one of the hardest players to contain: his tenacity, dribbling skills and ability to repeat attempts until he disrupts the game. Against Roma, he lacked that spark again and his mistake exacerbated an already unpromising offensive performance.

Also, there was talk about a four-match suspension in La Liga Esports. Valdano declined to elaborate, admitting he doesn't fully understand the issue, though he did share his first impression: "When I read about it today, I thought it was too much, but to be honest, I don't know how to interpret it."