Champions League winner slammed Vinicius and called Spain's La Liga a "joke league"

Vinicius Junior arrived at Real Madrid in 2018 when he was still a teenager with a few games at Flamengo. While it took him a few years to adapt to the pace of play in Europe and the demands of the club, when he did he quickly became one of the team's biggest stars. That allowed him to earn a place in the starting lineup and be a key player in the 2022 Champions League title, scoring the winning goal in the final against Liverpool.

However, during this season 'Vini' has struggled. He suffered two muscular injuries last semester that prevented him from playing regularly. The first one was at the end of August, in a match against Celta that Los Merengues won 1-0. His return was a month later, but it was short-lived, as in November he got injured again (in this case while he was with the Brazilian National Team) and needed two months to recover.

Despite these problems, some believe he was one of the best players in the world during 2023. In a debate on SkySports, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville picked him in his ideal XI for last year. But fellow defender Jamie Carragher disagreed.

The former Liverpool player (Champions League winner in 2005) remarked that he had left out Lionel Messi to include Vinicius: "What has Vinicius Jr done this season?" Neville justified his decision by referring to the Brazilian winger's stats with Real Madrid (he netted 18 goals and provided 17 assists in 44 games in 2023), but that wasn't enough for Carragher, who replied: "they didn't even win La Liga", and then described the Spanish tournament as a "joke league".

He has had problems before

Jamie Carragher tends to have controversial opinions that often get him into trouble. Last year he revealed that Lionel Messi sent him a message on Instagram calling him a "donkey", angry about the former defender's words, who had assured that PSG would not win the Champions League with Leo, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar in the squad.