<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/vinicius-junior/">Vinícius Júnior</a> played a key role for Real Madrid in the 2026 Spanish Super Cup final, which saw FC Barcelona lift the trophy in Saudi Arabia after a thrilling 3-2 win. Despite the disappointing result, the Brazilian once again etched his name into club history by matching a record previously held by <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/cristiano-ronaldo/">Cristiano Ronaldo</a> and two other Real Madrid legends.



Sunday delivered another dramatic chapter in El Clásico, as Real Madrid and <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/barcelona/">Barcelona</a> met in the Spanish Super Cup final for the fourth consecutive year. With Madrid trailing 1-0, Vinícius picked up the ball in midfield and launched a brilliant solo run, including a nutmeg on Jules Koundé, before scoring a spectacular goal in the 45+2 minute to pull Los Blancos level and reach a historic milestone.



With his goal against Barcelona, Vinícius Júnior has become the all-time leader in combined goals and assists in finals for <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/real-madrid/">Real Madrid</a>. Across 15 finals since arriving from Flamengo in 2018, the Brazilian winger has now recorded nine goals (including his strike in the 2026 Spanish Super Cup) and seven assists, totaling 16 goal contributions.



During his nine seasons at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo also reached 16 goal contributions in finals. The Portuguese icon appeared in 18 finals for Los Blancos, scoring 15 goals and providing one assist, a pass to Marcelo in the 2014 UEFA Champions League final against Atlético Madrid.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://media.worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2026/01/11195559/vinicius-junior-real-madrid-fc-barcelona-1920x1080.webp" alt="Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrating." class="wp-image-615306"></figure><figcaption>Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrating.</figcaption></figure>



Alongside Ronaldo, Vinícius has now matched two other Real Madrid legends: <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/real-madrid/">Karim Benzema</a>, who played in 29 finals, and Ferenc Puskás, who appeared in eight. With four forwards tied at the top, and Alfredo Di Stéfano sitting just behind them with 13 goal contributions in 15 finals, Vinícius has a clear path to make further history by surpassing them in a future final with either a goal or an assist.


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<h2>Vinícius still chasing Ronaldo’s success in finals</h2>



Vinícius Júnior and Cristiano Ronaldo, who arrived at Real Madrid the same season the other departed, represent two very different profiles in the club’s history. While Vinícius has thrived as a dynamic dribbler and creator, Ronaldo established himself as one of the most prolific goal scorers in modern soccer, and their success rates in finals remain difficult to compare.



Ronaldo won 14 of the 18 finals he played with Real Madrid, including all four UEFA Champions League finals he featured in. His only defeats came in one Copa del Rey final (2013 vs. Atlético Madrid) and three Spanish Super Cups (2011 vs. Barcelona, and 2014 and 2015 vs. Atlético), giving him a remarkable 77.7% win rate.



By comparison, Vinícius is still trailing Ronaldo’s mark despite appearing in only three fewer finals. With 10 wins and five defeats (four of them in Spanish Super Cups (2021, 2023, 2025, and 2026) and one in the 2025 Copa del Rey) the Brazilian currently holds a 66.6% win rate in finals.

Vinícius Júnior matches Cristiano Ronaldo and two other Real Madrid legends’ record with goal vs. Barcelona

Vinícius Júnior matches Cristiano Ronaldo and two other Real Madrid legends' record with goal vs. Barcelona - World Soccer Talk

destacadas

<div id="attachment_7098" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div>The Kids Are Our Future</div>
Football loves dominant sides.
Think of Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal of the 1920s, ravaging England with the WM formation; Real Madrid of the early days of the European Cup, with Alfredo di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas wreaking havoc on unsuspecting continental champions; Liverpool getting comfy on their “fucking perch,” winning four European cups in the span of seven years in the late seventies and early eighties; AC Milan’s post-Berlusconi Dutch delight in the mid to late eighties and early nineties.&nbsp; Dominant sides measure the development of the game as winning ways switch from country to country, club to club.
The Manchester United of recent years are certainly worthy of inclusion among the clubs mentioned above, but as the Premier League trophies pile up, the FA Cup loses its sheen, and England’s footballing strength gets more and more concentrated in the hands of the wealthy few, so grows United’s sense of entitlement.&nbsp; There were several signs of this today when Manchester United defeated its City rivals to all but secure a record 18th league title, what should have been a moment of team solidarity.&nbsp; Certainly Ronaldo whingeing like a git after getting subbed off at the sixtieth minute didn’t exactly inspire, but when Tevez somehow found an ‘I’ in team after scoring United’s second goal, cupping his ears in delight at the director’s box with whom is at odds over his future at the club, it was hard to imagine the neutral giving a round of applause to the nearly-champions.
Compare these antics to Barcelona, United’s competition in the Champions League final and a team seemingly reborn under the youthful tutelage of Pep Guardiola. After a hard-fought two leg enterprise against Chelsea, a club that represents for many over-moneyed and overly-negative English football (and who also drew comparisons to Man United in last year’s CL semi final), Barcelona came out as moral (and actual) victors.&nbsp; Barcelona seem victors in the image department as well: sponsor-less for years, the Catalan club sport UNICEF on their shirts (compared to Man United, sponsored by a failed American investment conglomerate).&nbsp; All this means the Anyone But United crowd will likely be joined by a fair share of footballing neutrals on May 27th.&nbsp; To that end, it’s a shame United’s younger players didn’t show a little more respect to the notion of “team first” today.
Of course no one could argue that arrogance and individualism don’t play a large measure in winning sides; one need only think of Cruiff at Ajax or Giuseppe Meazza at Inter Milan (the latter famously showed up still drunk from carousing the night before, only to score three goals).&nbsp; The difference is that for many, United represent the worst effects of neoliberal commercialization in the Premier League, the pushing of product, the prawn sandwiches, United shirts on sale at Reebok next to the sweatshop shoes.&nbsp; Tevez using his considerable skills in an effort to raise his stock price, and Ronaldo disrespecting his manager and his teammates by throwing a tantrum after a brilliant performance (Ferguson shrugged it off to the media, and with four points to win in three games to secure the title, no wonder)—actions that reduce the game to what Eduardo Galeno called a “showcase of commercial exhibition”—don’t help Manchester United’s image problem.
United’s younger players would do well to help keep their self-interested gait off the pitch, and start acting in ways worthy of the champions they are now almost certain to become.&nbsp; Lord knows the ABU crowd don’t need any more help than Ronaldo has already given them.

Tevez, Ronaldo Give Ammo to the ABU Crowd - World Soccer Talk

Tevez, Ronaldo Give Ammo to the ABU Crowd

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