Vinicius Jr has admitted that Real Madrid have got to "improve" ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first-leg against Arsenal. Carlo Ancelotti's side were defeated 2-1 by Valencia on Saturday.

Los Blancos missed the chance to move to within one point of La Liga leaders Barcelona and Vinicius Jr endured a mixed afternoon at the Bernabau.

After he was gifted the prospect of putting Real in front from the penalty spot, the Brazilian's effort was saved by soon-to-be Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Moments after, Valencia went in front through Mouctar Diakhaby. Although Vinicius Jr made amends by pulling Real level in the second half - his 104th goal for the club - Ancelotti's men went on and lost the game. Hugo Duro headed home from close-range to score Valencia's winner in stoppage-time.

Speaking after the game, Vinicius Jr issued a stern message to his Real teammates. It came as he celebrated becoming level with compatriot Ronaldo on the same number of goals for Los Blancos.

Ronaldo achieved the feat in 2007 and took 177 appearances to reach the tally. Vinicius Jr, on the other hand, took 303 matches to achieve the feat, having made his debut back in 2018.

"A special day," Vinicius Jr said on Instagram. "It's an honour to take the same sips as my idol and together with him being the Brazilian with the most sips in the history of this club. I arrived here with a child and taught me the path to the goal. Thanks for the tips and reassurance @ronaldo R9 PHENOMENON!

"A bad party from which we know we have to improve. But Madrid never LAUGHS! See you in London."

While Valencia ended up coming out on top, Real dominated the game. They had 21 shots, nine shots on target and created three big chances. They also accumulated a huge 3.7 expected goals (xG).

In comparison to Valencia, Corberan's side had 10 shots, two shots on target, and created two big chances. They accumulated just 0.81 expected goals (xG) throughout the match.

"We created a ton of chances and were very close to scoring," Ancelotti said post-match.

"We may have lacked effectiveness, and in recovering the ball, but we conceded very little.

"It's true that opponents don't need much to score against us in these moments.

"We took risks to try to win as a draw wouldn't have been enough for us, and we got through that counter-attack. We did well offensively. We lacked some effectiveness."