Vinícius Júnior is the latest superstar to speak out against soccer's expanded match calendar.
Real Madrid confirmed Vinícius Júnior suffered an injury to the biceps femoris in his left leg against Leganes, relegating the winger to the sidelines for up to four weeks. The injury comes after Vinícius Júnior played 270 minutes in 11 days for club and country.
The Brazilian took to social media to express his frustration with both the injury and the current schedule.
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Real Madrid has already played 18 matches in the 2024–25 season across all competitions, and Vinícius Júnior appeared in every single one. The 24-year-old also logged 90 minutes in four of Brazil's six CONMEBOL 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying matches over the last three months. Had he not missed the October international break due to injury, the winger would have already featured in 24 matches from August to November.
The Ballon d'Or runner-up is just one of many players missing significant time due to injury. Fellow Real Madrid teammates Dani Carvajal and Éder Militão are out for the season with ACL injuries. Rodrygo and Aurélien Tchouaméni are also sidelined. In fact, this season alone, only seven players in Real Madrid's squad have avoided injury.
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The injury issues go beyond Real Madrid. Manchester City's Rodri is also out for the season with an ACL injury. At one point, Pep Guardiola's side was without Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Savinho, John Stones, Rúben Dias, Kyle Walker, Jérémy Doku and Oscar Bobb due to injury.
Before his season ended, Rodri spoke out against the match calendar. "This year, we are going [to play] 70 maybe 80 [games]," he said. "In my humble opinion, I think it's too much. I think we have to take care of ourselves. Someone has to take care of ourselves because we are the main characters of this sport."
The midfielder even went as far as mentioning a future strike from the players to get the number of games lowered.
As of now, though, players on the biggest clubs in the world could potentially play over 60 games across all competitions this season on top of representing their countries during the international breaks. If the sport's biggest superstars continue suffering injuries, the noise surrounding soccer's schedule will only get louder.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Vinicius Junior Calls Out 'Crazy' Schedule After Sustaining Thigh Injury.
