Few talents raised as much expectation as the Brazilians Vitor Roque (2005) and Endrick Felipe (2006) after making the leap to European football. They were said to be the faces of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the coming years, but the reality has turned out to be quite different. The former did not fit into Xavi’s plans, who had not asked for his signing and ended up giving more minutes to the youth players, and the latter is suffering terribly to get minutes in Ancelotti’s scheme in his first season with Los Blancos.
2024 was expected to be the starting signal to enjoy the first battle of a rivalry that should have been full of goals and talent. It was understood that they were going to go hand in hand throughout their careers, but the search for the throne of the number nine in Spanish football will have to wait. The ‘hype’ was so great that no one dared to put a ceiling on either of the two young talents: fast, strong, explosive and dribblers. They shared the same dream, different shirt, which now seems almost more like a nightmare.
In search of escape from the ‘Tigrinho’ case
Vitor Roque’s first spell at Barcelona, and it remains to be seen whether there will be a second, lasted just eight months, when the striker left the Blaugrana to complete a loan spell at Real Betis. Two goals, 16 games and just 353 minutes played, the Brazilian striker saw the door slammed shut in his face at Barcelona. He needed minutes to get up to speed and acclimatize to LaLiga, which is why he has gone out on loan, and at Barcelona his involvement was minimal, something Endrick does not want to happen to him.
“Since I’ve known Barca, I don’t remember such an ugly and strong attack on an 18-year-old kid. I don’t know where it came from, I don’t know if it’s an attack on me or the club, but he was attacked with malice, he was attacked very strongly, without any sense, without any reason,” Deco confessed about the harsh and incomprehensible attacks suffered by Vitor Roque in Barcelona. Endrick has also remedied this, moving away from the noise and criticism of Ancelotti for ‘always’ counting on the same players… and has focused on daily work until his opportunity arrives. They are minimally different cases because the ‘attacks’ are not directly against the Brazilian from Madrid, but against a coach who does not finish giving opportunities to young pearls.
The Madrid No. 16 is facing the logical process, there are always exceptions that prove the rule, that a player as young as he is must face when he sets foot on Real Madrid territory. Endrick is aware of this and knows that his time will come, but also that now is the time to keep his head down, without making noise but without stopping working. Taking advantage of the opportunities that come his way is one of the keys to ensuring that everything continues to flow. And this is where his personality comes into play, as it did against Stuttgart. That day he took to the field in the 80th minute, until then he had one goal in 10 minutes, and left the pitch with another goal to his name, the last one he has scored to date. His ‘selfishness’ in the last minute sums up perfectly how eager he is to impress at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. He didn’t look at anyone and fired the rifle to try to take the prey home. Actions like this, if they go well of course, are what usually make the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu fall in love with a player. The transition phase he is going through at Real Madrid, a natural adaptation process that takes time, has also left him without options to travel with his national team.
