Carlo Ancelotti calls Vinicius Jr 'most decisive player' after Real Madrid rout Liverpool

Carlo Ancelotti heaped praise on Vinicius Jr. following the Brazilian's brace that cut out Real Madrid's trail, as they ended up beating Liverpool 5-2. This was the first time a visiting team managed to score 5 goals at Anfield in the Champions League. The second leg will take place on March 16.

On Tuesday, the UEFA Champions League night saw yet another comeback by the tournament's 14-time champions, Real Madrid. In the first leg of the round of 16 encounter between Real Madrid and Liverpool, The Reds started on the best possible note and got the 2-0 lead after just 14 minutes. With the chances converted and the Anfield crowd playing the role of the 12th man, Real Madrid had a huge task up their sleeves, however, just 7 minutes later Vinicius Jr got one back for the Whites courtesy of a sublime finish. The 22-year-old scored again following an error by Goalkeeper Allison in the 36th minute to close out the lead of Liverpool. At half-time it was all square at the Merseyside, and in the second Madrid scored on three occasions to seemingly put one foot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

'Vinícius is the most decisive player in world': Carlo Ancelotti 

After the win, Carlo Ancelotti came out to present his thoughts to the media after what transpired in the match and was expressively pleased with his team's performance. Ancelotti mentioned the role of veterans combining with youngsters and hailed the victory to a complete team effort. “We suffered a lot at the start and we obviously didn’t want to start the match the way the did. When we were 2-0 down, I thought back to the Manchester City semi-final. But, we did better this time because we pulled it back even quicker. As happens with this team, we kept a cool head and our quality allowed us to get back into the game. The veterans helped us a lot to stay cool. Our forward line’s efficiency allowed us to get back in the game. Rodrygo, Vinícius and Benzema were very smart. When we got through Liverpool’s press, we caused them problems. Then, we also got better defensively. In the first half, they caused problems to us on our left, but we got better as the game progressed.”

While Ancelotti was all praise about the forward line of Rodrygo, Vinicius, and Rodrygo, he gave a special honor to Vinicius Jr., who was gauged as the man of the match on the night. “In my personal opinion, Vinícius is the most decisive player in world football right now. There’s no player with his continued insistence with dribbling, assists and goals, nobody who is more decisive right now. I hope he keeps it up.”