If earlier there were doubts regarding Vinicius Jr‘s quality going forward, this season the 21-year-old Brazilian has already shown why he is all set to become one of the biggest footballing names in the coming decade. On Tuesday night, he further extended his claim, as he grabbed two goals to steer Real Madrid to a thumping 5-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the third round of the UEFA Champions League group stage fixtures.

Last season, the Ukrainian club had handed out two defeats to Los Blancos in the Champions League group stages. So coming out tonight, there was an opportunity of revenge that the Madrid camp would’ve smelt quite early. 

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While the Spanish giants dominated possession in the first half and had peppered the Donetsk shot-stopper with regular attempts, they failed to snatch a breakthrough in the first 30 minutes. But as luck would have it, Shakhtar centre-back Serhiy Kryvtsov, in the hope of reaching out to clear a Lucas Vazquez long ball from deep, extended his legs only to deflect the ball into the back of his own net. 

Albeit from an own goal, but with the lead Real Madrid looked a lot more confident going forward as Vinicius quickly doubled the lead coming out after the break. The Brazilain, who was set up by an exquisite pass from Luka Modric, chipped the ball over keeper Anatolii Trubin’s head. Brimming with confidence, the youngster soon added another goal to his tally after dancing past almost half of the Donetsk players.

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In a matter of minutes, Vinicius yet again got into the box and set up Rodrygo this time for the fourth goal. With the three points assured, manager Carlo Ancelotti quickly opted to rest his pivotal players ahead of the weekend’s fixture against rivals Barcelona. 

Shakhtar looked a shadow of their past selves, battered and bettered in every quarter. Karim Benzema completed the rout in stoppage time after getting on the end of Marco Asensio’s cross.

Madrid, the 13-time European champion, moved up to second place in Group D on six points. Sheriff remains in the lead, based on the head-to-head with Madrid, despite losing 3-1 at Inter Milan.