Vinicius reached 50 Champions League appearances as the youngest Brazilian ever
Real Madrid won a hard fought match against RB Leipzig and took the first step towards a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti's side had a great ally in the video refereeing in the early stages and then sealed the win with a great goal from Brahim. In the closing stages, they could have made the lead even bigger had Vinicius not hit the woodwork on a counter-attack with just under 20 minutes to go.
Although he could not have been as prominent as he would have liked, the Brazilian attacker did reach his first big tally in a European context. Vinicius has now made 50 appearances in the Champions League, a competition in which he starred in the 2022 final when he scored the winning goal against Liverpool in Paris.
At 23, no other Brazilian had played so many games in the continent's premier continental competition. Rodrygo's 46 is approaching his 50th, and he could yet match his tally in 2024. Far behind him are Marquinhos' 37, Marcelo's 36, Anderson's 35, Kaka's 34, Lucas Moura's 31 and the 27 of Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and Alex Teixeira.
Comparing his achievement with that of players of all nationalities, only Iker Casillas (64), Kylian Mbappe (59), Leo Messi (57), Cesc (55), Raul (54) and David Alaba (51) played more at the age of 23. Vinicius is locked in a nice little tussle with Phil Foden, who also reached 50 Champions League nights at Manchester City on Tuesday. The pair this season leapfrogged both Wayne Rooney (48) and Raphael Varane (48), who, according to BeSoccer Pro data, have played the most times up to the age of 23 in the top club competition.
In the historical ranking of Brazilians, Vinicius is still far from the top 10, which is headed by Roberto Carlos with 120 appearances. Dani
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