Antonio Rudiger asks Vinicius Junior to focus on football, but demands more from referees too

Real Madrid face Liverpool in the second leg of their Chammpions League Round of 16 tie at 21:00 CEST, knowing that they can concede twice without it affecting their chances of going through. With their La Liga title challenge on the ropes there is plenty of focus on the European challenge.

Ahead of the game though, there was plenty of focus on Vinicius Junior ahead of the tie though. Central defender Antonio Rudiger was asked whether he thought Vinicius needed to focus on the game more.

“It’s a 50-50 thing. Of course he has to focus on playing, but it’s also hard when you get kicked and provoked so many times. He’s still young and in a process of learning. The referees have to do a better job with him also.”

Meanwhile his manager had little to say on the topic, saying he wasn’t thinking about Vinicius beyond his quality.

“I don’t look at that a lot, I think that he was exemplary in his attitude on the pitch.”

Against Espanyol Vinicius once again found fault with the referees, having been booked for a relatively light challenge. In the previous game, he was seen going for the referee at the end of the game, with his own players dragging him away – Rudiger in particularly could be seen throwing his arms in the air at the Brazilian.

Image via EFE/Rodrigo Jimenez