Emergency services believe that the blaze started in the basement of Vinicius Junior’s home, with an electrical malfunction in the sauna the cause for the fire. The sauna itself has reportedly been completely destroyed and smoke filled two floors of the house, leaving extensive damage in the process.
Spanish authorities have confirmed they were called to the affluent La Moraleja neighbourhood, which sits north of Madrid, at 11am on Thursday morning. Local police officers were on the scene attempting to battle the blaze before the fire was brought under control by firefighters.
Fortunately, as there was nobody at the property owing to the international break, there were no reported injuries despite the intensity of the fire as authorities investigate to determine exactly what went wrong.
Vinicius Junior would have hoped to have made a safe return to his Madrid home following the international break as he looks to maintain his flying start to the season. The 25-year-old has hit five goals and provided four assists in the opening eight league games of the campaign as Los Blancos excel under Xabi Alonso.
Alonso succeeded Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu helm after leaving Bayer Leverkusen over the summer. The former Real Madrid midfielder has masterminded an impressive start to life back in the capital with the Spanish giants currently top of La Liga having won seven of the opening eight league matches of the season.
The only blip on the record book came in a 5-2 Madrid Derby loss at the home of Atletico Madrid, as goals from Robin Le Normand, Alexander Sorloth, Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez marked a memorable victory for Los Colchoneros.
Brazil, meanwhile, are hoping for better fortunes under Carlo Ancelotti. While the Selecao have booked their 2026 World Cup spot, they endured a tough qualification campaign, finishing in fifth, 10 points behind rivals Argentina. The world champions smashed Brazil 4-1 on home turf back in March.
Ancelotti, though, has limited time with which to work with his new squad ahead of football’s showpiece event in North America next summer. The Italian oversaw a goalless draw with Ecuador in his first game in charge back in June before securing victory over Paraguay to book Brazil’s spot at the World Cup. Last month, meanwhile, Brazil eased to victory over Chile, but followed that up with defeat to Bolivia.
With no competitive matches between now and next summer, Brazil will play a host of international friendlies in the coming months as Ancelotti looks to figure out his best XI. The five-time World Cup winners take on South Korea on Friday, 10th October, and follow that up with a meeting with Japan next week.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s game against South Korea, Ancelotti lamented a lack of training sessions with the full squad that has hindered tactical development. However, he also praised the attitude of his players, saying: “I think more tactical work is needed to refine game strategy. All of this can be very important, but the most important part is not the strategy, it is the attitude of the players on the pitch. For that, it doesn’t take much time to prepare.”
Ancelotti also expressed his satisfaction with Brazil’s defensive organisation, adding: “I really liked the team’s defensive play in June and September. The team defended very well – compact, united, committed, intense.
“Where the team needs to improve is with the ball in possession. The team has to show the individual quality it has, and we have a lot of it. You can play with four, three, or five in attack, but what matters is the quality shown on the pitch. What I really like is the team atmosphere. It’s very positive because of the players’ attitude and professionalism.”
