Rivaldo can't understand why Zidane benched Vinicus against City

Rivaldo still can’t wrap his head around Zinedine Zidane opting not to play Vinicius Jr against Manchester City in the Champions League.

Zidane left Vinicius as an unused substitute in Real Madrid’s loss to Manchester City last week.

Los Blancos lost to the English side via a 4-2 aggregate as they bowed out of the Champions League.

Zidane is popularly known as a ‘specialist’ in this competition but some of his decisions that day were questionable.

With Real Madrid trailing by a 2-1 scoreline and in need of goals, the Los Blancos boss made some funny substitutions.

Zidane chose to bring on Lucas Vazquez, Luka Jovic, and Fede Valverde in the 83rd minute, leaving an attacker in Vinicius watching on from the stands.

Rivaldo is yet to understand this decision and criticized the Frenchman for contributing to his side’s loss.

Rivaldo: “Really, it’s difficult for me to understand why Vinicius did not play against City after what he achieved this season. He was one of the best wingers in La Liga. There was also no news about an injury or anything like that. It was controversial from Zidane.” [marca] pic.twitter.com/r9EABmhCsS
— SB (@Realmadridplace) August 13, 2020

“I find it hard to understand why he didn’t play after what he’s achieved this season, being one of the best wingers in LaLiga,” Rivaldo told Betfair when asked about Vinicius.

“And besides, there wasn’t any news about injuries or anything like that.”I’m convinced that, if he had played, he would have been a headache for Guardiola.”

“But he sat out the entire 90 minutes of the game, in such an important tie.”

“Surely only Zidane and the boy know what happened and what they talked about before the game, but from the outside it can only be understood as a strange decision.”

“If there was nothing personal or an injury, it’s a controversial decision by Zidane and a difficult moment for Vinicius, who would have loved to take part in such an important Champions League match.”