“Holding Mbappe and Rodrygo back”, “Clearly the problem” - Fans slam 24-year-old Real Madrid star after 1-0 loss against Espanyol

Real Madrid fans took to social media to blast Vinicius Jr for his performance in the side's 1-0 loss to Espanyol in LaLiga on Saturday (February 1). The Brazilian endured a forgettable game against the Catalan side, losing 10 of his 14 duels and misplacing possession five times.

Following the match, fans took to social media platform X to blast the forward's performance, with one post reading:

"Vini Jr holding Mbappe and Rodrygo back."

Another fan wrote:

"Vini is quite clearly the problem in this Madrid super team, they were balling out with Mbappe at LW until this brother returned."

Another post read:

"Whenever Vini.Jr is out, Mbappe and Rodrygo shines. That's just my little observation."

Another fan commented:

"Mbappe and Rodrygo have a good chemistry and Vini come back he ruined it."

Another user wrote:

" plays bad without vini and plays worse with him. Nice."

A fan wrote:

"vini fans were piping up about the brest game just for vini to come and lose 11 duels and get dispossessed 5 times."

Another post said:

"And I’m sorry but the team was much better without Vini in the last couple of games, he needs to get his shit together."

The final post in our selection read:

"At this point it seems like vini j is real Madrid problem."

Los Blancos suffered their first LaLiga defeat since their 2-1 loss to Athletic Club on December 4, 2024. Vinicius Jr would hope to have better games this season and build on his output of 16 goals and 10 assists from 27 games.

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“This is why VAR was invented, for things like this - Real Madrid manager furious after defeat to Espanyol

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has blasted the refereeing in his side's 1-0 loss on the road to Espanyol on Saturday. The LaLiga champions were furious after the referee did not send Carlos Romero off for a cynical tackle on Kylian Mbappe.

To add insult to injury, Romero scored the winning goal to cut the Madrid-based side's lead atop the table to a single point. Speaking to the press after the game, Ancelotti said (via Get Spanish Football News):

“A war between Real Madrid and refs? I don’t want to talk about that. All I will say, is that the red was very obvious, and the whole world saw it. This is why VAR was invented, for things like this. The referee’s decision makes no sense.”

Real Madrid will next face Leganes on Wednesday (February 5) in the Copa del Rey. The UEFA Champions League holders will be keen to return to winning ways.