Madrid, Spain Ace Vinicius Jr. is as good as FC Barcelona legend The Lionel Messi

OK Diario reported that Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. has tied FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi in a very important stat.

The Brazilian didn’t play his best in Tuesday’s first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Manchester City at the Bernabeu.

Having an off day for him doesn’t stop him from setting up two goals in a 3-3 tie against the current champions of the league.

Also, the goals were worth a lot of gold. The home team was down 1-0 after a smart free kicҡ by Bernardo Silva that caught goalie Andriy Lunin off guard. Vinicius then found Rodrygo, a fellow Brazilian striker who played with him, to make it 2-1.

Then, 11 minutes from time, “Vini” set up Fede Valverde for an easy goal to tie the game. This came after Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol scored amazing goals from the edge of the box that put the ball in the top corner, leaving Lunin with no chance.

Fans of football all over the world enjoyed the exciting tie, which set up another possible thriller in Manchester next week. That game will decide who plays Bayern Munich or Arsenal in the last four for a chance to make the Wembley final.

The Spanish news said that Vinicius promised that he would “already sit at Leo Messi’s table in the decisive matches of the Champions League.”

That’s because his two assists against Pep Guardiola’s team brought his total of assistance goals in the knockout stages of the elite event to 12.

At this point, he was tied with the Argentine player most often linked with FC Barcelona, Madrid’s bitter rivals. However, Vini has accomplished this impressive feat at the age of 23 and with 52 fewer games played.

The winger still needs to play a few games to catch up to or even b𝔢at his idol Cristiano Ronaldo’s 17 knockout phase assists. However, both of these all-time greats are now working in the United States and Saudi Arabia nearing the end of their careers, while Vini is just getting started. This makes him a strong candidate to become the leader one day.

Vinicius now has 20 assists in the history of the Champions League. Ronaldo is still in first place with 42 assists, while Messi is in second place with 40.