Vinicius Jr has been one of the absolute best players in the world in the past few seasons. As things stand today, the Real Madrid number ‘7’ is the big favourite to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or for his exploits in the 2023/24 season with Los Blancos, winning the La Liga, UEFA Champions League and the Supercopa. In Madrid’s latest La Liga game against Villarreal at home, with the cagey affair staged at 1-0 in Madrid’s favour, Vinicius Jr picked up the ball outside the box about 35 yards out and banged in a wonder goal with his right foot to make the score 2-0 and secure the win.
Following all the hype around the Brazillian winger, a very famous Spanish Journalist has claimed that Vinicius Jr is actually better than a certain little man from Argentina, Lionel Messi. Jose Luis Sanchez believes that both, Lionel Messi and Vinicius Jr are comparable players and that Vini Jr is actually the better dribbler between the two forwards.
Appearing on El Chiringuito TV, Jose Luis Sanchez underlined all the reasons why he feels that Vinicius Jr is actually better than Lionel Messi. He stated, “Vinicius is better than Messi, and that’s the reality. In my opinion, they are comparable players, but they differ in dribbling.”
He further explained how they differed in his mind in dribbling, saying, “Vinicius relies more on speed and explosiveness. Vinicius does it along the line, on the wing, right in front of defenders, to escape from areas where there is practically no space. In open space, Messi might have been cleaner with his dribbling, but Vinicius is more electric and has more escape routes in those areas.”
So does what Jose Luis Sanchez says hold any truth? Well absolutely NOT. In no way is Vini Jr a better dribbler, let alone a better player than Lionel Messi. According to Sofascore, in the 2020/21 La Liga season, Messi’s last season in La Liga, a 34-year-old Messi recorded 4.6(64.5) successful dribbles per game. Comparing this to Vinicius Jr’s numbers from his “Ballon d’Or worthy” last season, which had successful dribbles per game score of 2.5(40%) shows that not only did Messi dribble more, but was also more successful than not unlike Vinicius Jr.
On top of that, here we are comparing a 34-year-old Messi to a 23-year-old Vinicius. These numbers would be even more out of proportion if we compare Vinicius with Messi’s prime years. Do you believe Vinicius Jr is a better dribbler than Lionel Messi? Let us know in the comments below.
