Brazilian teenager Vinicius is the latest victim of Madridismo

Vinicius was going to win the Ballon d'Or. Or that what we were sold from Madrid. It seems his path towards the coveted France Football prize has stalled and it's not all his fault, although his performances have not been great in terms of scoring. Madrid is a crushing machine for footballers and doesn't usually take prisoners. Zinedine Zidane has named his squad for Tuesday's game against Paris Saint-Germain at the Santiago Bernabei and the Brazil international is not included. 

For the second game running, Vinicius won't even be on the bench. He wasn't involved against Real Sociedad and the team did really well, beyond the fact they won the game. It is surely for that reason that Zidane's decided against changes for the game against a PSG side which could feature the fit-again Neymar. Vinicius' light is fading in Chamartin like Mariano's quickly did in the past or, going back many years, Portillo's. There are many corpses in the white river that have not survived the eternal search for the new Raul. Vinicius seems set to lose that fight as well at the moment. 

Now in the spotlight are Rodrygo Goes and Karim Benzema, who is finally looking like a striker that scores goals. Eden Hazard's not yet hit their level but there have been signs recently. The full squad consists of: Courtois, Areola, Altube, Carvajal, Militao, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Mendy, Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Valverde, Isco, Hazard, Benzema, Bale, Jovic & Rodrygo.