"Most underappreciated superstar in world football" - Fans hail Real Madrid star as he shines in 5-1 win over Salzburg

Fans praised Rodrygo for his performance during the Champions League clash between Real Madrid and RB Salzburg on Wednesday, January 22. The Brazilian winger scored a brace as Los Blancos cruised to a 5-1 victory and secured qualification to the knockout stages.

While Real Madrid entered the contest as the favorites, they had an underwhelming start. The Spanish champions failed to have a touch in the opposition's box in the opening 20 minutes.

Despite the slow start, Real Madrid broke the deadlock through Rodrygo in the 23rd minute. 11 minutes later, he scored his second of the night.

Kylian Mbappe added a third three minutes after the restart, but he had Salzburg goalkeeper Janis Blaswich to thank for the goal.

Vinicius netted the side’s fourth in the 55th minute before rounding off the scoring for his side in the 77th minute.

Mads Bidstrup pulled one back for Salzburg five minutes from time, but it was merely a consolation goal.

While Vinicius won the POTM, Rodrygo also had an incredible game. In fact, he was the second highest-rated player in the Real Madrid squad as per Sofascore, with a rating of 8.3.

After the match, fans took to X to heap praise on his performance.

An X user wrote:

"Rodrygo is the most underappreciated superstar in world football."

Another tweeted:

"Rodrygo isn’t a passenger in this Madrid super team. Respect him 🪄"

"Rodrygo on the left is a different beast." @totalcristiano wrote

"Everyone eats game and rodrygo ate with everyone else.. we’ve come so far" @rordrygo added

"Call him underrated, but Rodrygo is THAT guy. Proper baller through and through. Put some respect on his name." @bankysux01 chimed in

Following the brace against Salzburg, Rodrygo has now been directly involved in 10 goals across his last seven starts across competitions for Real Madrid.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti on Rodrygo after 5-1 win against Salzburg

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was also in awe on Rodrygo's performance during his side's demolition of Salzburg.

The Italian tactician praised Rodrygo's consistency in goalscoring and emphasized the quality the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius, and Jude Bellingham bring to the squad.

Ancelotti told the club's website:

"He's scoring in every game and he's helping us a lot. We have the quality from Mbappé, Vini Jr., Rodrygo, Bellingham, Brahim, Valverde's strike. It's a perfect combination of an attacking game and we enjoy it and we'll enjoy it more when the team defends better.”

Real Madrid will next be in action against Valladolid in the La Liga on Saturday, January 25.