Jamie Carragher singled out Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior for praise following Los Blancos’ 2-1 win over Manchester City in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie.

Vinicius once again came through for Real Madrid, scoring a brace on Tuesday night at the Etihad Stadium to give his side a 5-1 aggregate victory. The Brazilian winger opened the scoring from the spot in the 22nd minute after Bernardo Silva was shown a red card for handling his shot on the line. Erling Haaland restored parity before the break, but Vinicius struck again in stoppage time to seal the win.

Speaking after the game, Carragher waxed lyrical about the Brazilian, highlighting his impact in the game and stressing that he ‘always’ turns up in the Champions League.

“Vini Jr. always delivers in the Champions League. Year after year. And again, this year he’s at the heart of it,” Carragher said.

Vinicius was also the hero for Real Madrid in the UCL play-offs against Benfica. He scored the lone goal of the first leg in Portugal and netted the winner in the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. So far, he has scored five goals in the season’s Champions League campaign.

“It was a very tough game” – Vinicius on Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Manchester City

Despite the victory, Vinicius admitted that their second leg win over Manchester City at the Etihad was not easy to come by. The winger praised the Etihad outfit for dictating proceedings for a large portion of the game and rued his missed chances.

Although he made up for it with his goals, Vinicius missed two big chances and also hit the woodwork once. He told reporters post-match:

“A very important match for our confidence because since the beginning of the season we have had many good games, but we haven’t controlled as much as we did in this tie. It was a very tough game, against a great team and a great coach. They had possession for a long time, but we knew what we had to do: work and take advantage of opportunities. Of course, I missed many, but today I didn’t need as much.”

Real Madrid are likely to face Bayern Munich in the quarter-final. The Bundesliga outfit hold a 6-1 lead and will face Atalanta in the second leg of their round of 16 tie today. Next up for Alvaro Arbeloa’s side is a league clash against their cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid.