Vinicius Jr to don iconic No. 7 jersey for Real Madrid

MADRID: Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr will now wear Real Madrid’s iconic No.7 jersey – previously worn by Cristiano Ronaldo – in the next season after Eden Hazard’s departure, the club announced on Monday.

Vinicius Jr is now Real Madrid’s new No.7 in the first-team squad section, updated on the club’s website on Monday.

Besides Vinicius Jr, another Brazilian international Rodrygo Goes will don a new number jersey. He will now be wearing the No. 11 jersey following Macro Asensio’s departure.

Notably, Vinicius Jr donned No. 20 jersey last season while Goes wore the No. 21.

 

Both Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo Goes are now considered Real Madrid’s key members, having scored a combined 19 LaLiga and 12 Champions League goals last season.

Hazard donned the No. 7 shirt for Real Madrid from his arrival at the Santiago Bernabeu in July 2019 until his departure this month. After a miserable four years in Spain, the Belgian opted to terminate his contract a year early.

Cristiano Ronaldo wore Real Madrid’s legendary No. 7 jersey between 2009 and 2018, becoming the club’s all-time leading goal scorer 450 goals, and winning four Champions League trophies.

Notably, Real Madrid’s No. 9 jersey is also vacant after their veteran Karim Benzema left the club for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad.

It is pertinent to mention that Spain’s football league, La Liga, has been engulfed in a racism scandal after Vinicius Jr was subjected to racist taunts during Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at Valencia and later sent off.

The player has been taunted by opposition fans since he joined Real in 2018 but the latest incident has kicked up a storm over whether Spain is doing enough to stamp out racism in football.

The game was held up for several minutes and the referee wrote in his post-match report that shouts of “monkey” had been directed at Vinicius Junior.

Real Madrid then filed a criminal complaint with Spanish prosecutors over the racist abuse its Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior received during a weekend La Liga match, calling it a “hate crime”.

“Real Madrid strongly condemns the events that took place yesterday against our player Vinícius Junior,” the Spanish giants said in a statement.

The club said it believes the abuse “constitutes a hate crime” and had filed a complaint with the prosecutors’ office “in order for the facts to be investigated and for those responsible to be held accountable.”

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