Comparison: Vinicius’ first four years at Real Madrid vs Neymar’s four years at Barcelona

Vinicius has now completed his fourth Real Madrid season and he has done so by scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final. The 21-year-old has now played as many seasons for Real Madrid as his fellow Brazilian Neymar did for Barcelona. Vini arrived in the Spanish capital in 2018, while Neymar played at the Camp Nou between 2013 and 2017.

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Here, then, comes a comparison of Neymar’s four-year stretch at Barcelona and Vinicius’ first four years with Real Madrid.

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Comparing Vinicius and Neymar’s stats

When comparing these two Brazilians, it should be kept in mind that Vinicius started his Real Madrid career having just turned 18, whereas Neymar was 21 and a half when he arrived at Barcelona. It makes sense, therefore, that the former Santos man hit the ground running.

Neymar’s goals and assists stats over his four seasons at Barça were 15 goals and 15 assists in 2013/14, 39 goals and 10 assists in 2014/15, 31 goals and 25 assists in 2015/16 and 20 goals and 26 assists in his final campaign of 2016/17.

With Vinicius, his numbers are 3 goals and 12 assists in 2018/19, 5 goals and 4 assists in 2019/20, 6 goals and 7 assists in 2020/21 and 22 goals and 20 assists this past season of 2021/22.

Neymar, therefore, had much better stats than Vinicius, with 0.93 goals or assists per 90 minutes over those four seasons, compared to Vinicius’ 0.51 goals or assists per 90 minutes. But, Vinicius’ 2021/22 season has him producing 0.90 goals or assists per 90 minutes, almost matching Neymar’s numbers.

Comparing Vinicius and Neymar’s titles

With Vinicius winning the Champions League on Saturday night, he has now matched the one Champions League title that Neymar secured at Barcelona.

In total, the older Brazilian won eight titles with Barcelona: one Champions League, one Club World Cup, two LaLiga Santander, three Copa del Rey and one Spanish Super Cup.

Meanwhile, Vinicius has won six trophies so far at Real Madrid: one Champions League, one Club World Cup, two LaLiga Santander and two Spanish Super Cup.

Although Neymar also wins this comparison, it is equal in terms of the top trophies of the Champions League and LaLiga Santander, with one and two each respectively.

In conclusion, Neymar did have a more successful four years at Barcelona than Vinicius has had at Real Madrid so far, but he did arrive at Barcelona three years older than Vinicius was when he touched down in Madrid.