Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. will not play for his team against Liverpool in the Champions League due to been diagnosed with an injury to the femoral biceps of his left leg.

During Real Madrid’s 3-0 La Liga victory against Leganes on Sunday, the Brazilian played the entire game.

The 18th-ranked Madrid club in the 36-team Champions League standings will visit Anfield on Wednesday to take on the top-seeded Liverpool team.

In Spain, some have accused Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti of being negligent and mistreating Vinicius Jr., their now-injured winger.

Madrid issued an official statement shortly after noon on Monday in the Spanish capital, revealing that their winger had suffered a setback after playing 90 minutes in a 3-0 victory against Leganes the day before. Vinicius will therefore surely miss Wednesday’s pivotal meeting at Anfield against 2021–2022 UCL final opponents Liverpool, as well as another match on the continent against Europa League winners Atalanta.

He is likely to miss league matches against Getafe, Athletic Club, Girona, and Rayo Vallecano in order to make it back in time for the Intercontinental Cup in late December.

In his latest injury setback on X, formerly known as Twitter, Vinicius attributed it to soccer’s “crazy calendar.” Some, however, blame Ancelotti for “negligence” in the 2024 Ballon d’Or runner-up. Vinicius has already played 22 club and national team games this season. He scored a hat-trick against Osasuna on the final day of the November International Break. Since October 9, he has played the whole 90 minutes in seven out of his eight games.

As the season progresses, the Italian coach will need to better manage the playing time of his number seven because Endrick, Arda Guler, and Brahim Diaz are always ready to step up if Ancelotti decides to take Vinicius off the pitch or simply rest him.

Despite Madrid’s silence over the severity of the injury, the Brazillian international may be out for three weeks.