Vinicius Jr aims swipe at Man City fans after banner mocking him backfires
That backfired a bit...
Vinicius Jr had the last laugh over Manchester City fans after Real Madrid’s thrilling Champions League comeback.
City looked to be in control of the first leg of Tuesday’s play-off at the Etihad but goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham saw Los Blancos draw first blood ahead of the second leg in Madrid next week, sealing a 3–2 win.
City fans revelled in taunting Vinicius throughout the contest. The Brazil international was expected to scoop the Ballon d’Or award last year only to be pipped by City star Rodri.
Real Madrid and Vinicius responded by furiously boycotting the awards ceremony in protest.
Reminding Vinicius of Rodri’s triumph, City fans unfurled an Oasis-inspired banner of the Spain international clutching the award along with the message: ‘Stop crying your heart out’.
The 24-year-old was at the centre of Real’s dramatic fightback, however, providing the assist for Bellingham’s winner, also scooping the man of the match award
With City targeting him with chants of ‘where’s your Ballon d’Or?’, Vinicius casually pointed out the badge representing Real’s 15 Champions League successes on his left shoulder, having won two of them himself.
To rub further salt in the wounds, Vinicius reminded City fans to ‘know our history’ when quizzed on the attention he received post-match.
‘I see it, but whenever the opposing fans do things, they give me more strength to play a great game and I did that here,’ Vinicius told Movistar.
‘They know our history, everything we do in this competition. It’s the fifth time we’ve come, it’s always very cold and we have to continue along this line.’
He added: ‘It wasn’t bad, I was able to play a great game, we defended very well and it doesn’t matter who scores goals or is the MVP, we are here to do great things for this shirt and put Madrid in the highest place.
‘There is still a lot of game left in the return leg, we have to defend as we did today and have our fans with us to make it a magical night.’
Real can book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League next week with the return leg taking place at the Bernabeu next Wednesday.
