"He confirmed that he was going to join Barcelona" - Gerard Pique reveals Real Madrid snatched star by doubling Barca's offer

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has revealed that the Catalan giants were close to signing Vinicius Junior before Real Madrid snapped him up by doubling Barcelona's offer.

Pique said he was in close contact with Vinicius only for Real Madrid to come in and take him out of Barcelona's grasp. Speaking to Ibai Llanos, Pique said:

“I was in contact with Vinicius (Junior) to welcome him (at Barcelona) and those things - he even confirmed that he was going to join, but Madrid arrived and doubled the offer.”

Vinicius Junior was signed by Real Madrid back in 2017 for a fee of €46 million becoming one of the most expensive teenagers in football. The 21-year-old joined Los Blancos a year later in 2018. Vinicius Junior has since gone on to make 128 appearances for Real Madrid, scoring 20 goals along the way.

Vinicius Junior has played against Barcelona on six different occasions across all competitions. However, the Brazilian international has only scored once past Real Madrid's fierce rivals.

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Barcelona and Real Madrid gear up for the first El Clasico of the season

Barcelona and Real Madrid will lock horns in the first El Clasico of the season this Sunday, 24th October 2021.

Despite the hype surrounding the fixture, both teams will come into the match in a somewhat shaky run of form. Real Madrid have suffered two consecutive defeats in their last matches across all competitions. Los Blancos suffered a shock defeat at the hands of FC Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League which was followed up by a loss against Espanyol in La Liga.

Despite their poor form, Real Madrid are still second in La Liga, three points behind Real Sociedad with a game in hand.

Barcelona, on the other hand, returned to winning ways when they defeated Valencia by a comprehensive margin of 3-1. Prior to their win over Valencia, Barcelona were ninth in the table following a 2-0 loss at the hands of Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona have an extremely important Champions League game against Dynamo Kyiv before taking on Real Madrid at the weekend. The Catalan giants have lost both of their opening two games in the Champions League so far this season and sit at the bottom of their group.

Real Madrid are also going to face a Ukrainian side in Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.