One player who will carry Brazil’s World Cup hopes on his shoulders is Vinicius Jr.

The forward has eight goals in 47 appearances for Brazil and has been influential for Real Madrid again this campaign with 11 goals in La Liga and five more in the Champions League.

“Vinicius is a football star because of his talent,” Ancelotti said.

“He’s one of the most talented players in the world, so he carries this weight because everyone expects him to win the game alone and the expectations on him are higher than any other player – maybe only Kylian Mbappe right now.”

The 25-year-old has also had to deal with discrimination since moving to Spain, where he has faced 20 incidents of alleged abuse in eight years.

The latest incident came in Real Madrid’s Champions League knockout phase play-off tie at Benfica in February, following which the Brazilian winger said “racists are cowards”.

“Having a manager like my father is really good – in being close to the stars,” the Brazil assistant said.

“We just focused on what he [Vinicius] could improve and he has room for improvement. Even if he’s one of the best, maybe personal opinion, the best player in the world, but everyone has room for improvement.

“So we focus on that because we have a manager who is a specialist in making stars not feel alone and he always did that with stars like Didier Drogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski.”

Ancelotti, 36, held discussions to take charge of Scottish side Rangers last season before taking up his first managerial role at Brazilian side Botafago – only to be sacked five months later in December 2025.

The Italian, however, has continued to work with his father, who was named Brazil boss in May 2025 after four years at Real Madrid, where he won three Champions League titles and two La Liga titles over two spells.

Five-time World Cup winners Brazil have not lifted the trophy since their last triumph in 2002 but Ancelotti believes the Selecao “will be ready for the World Cup”.

“It will be difficult because it will be after a really long season,” said Ancelotti.

“There are players that will reach the World Cup with more than 60 games and this is not good. It will be not good for the show or the people that are watching.

“So we will take care of the players physically. It will be important because the weather will be so hot. It will be a competition that will be decided by small details.

“But I can say that we have a really competitive team that can play football that could be efficient in a competition like that. So we are positive.”

Brazil will face Morocco in their World Cup opener on 13 June in New Jersey before taking on Scotland and Haiti in Group C.