Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. was caught on camera in a heated confrontation with an FC Barcelona … More
Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. was caught on camera in a heated confrontation with an FC Barcelona fan during his side’s 4-3 defeat in El Clasico on Sunday.
The Brazilian provided two assists for hat trick scoring teammate Kylian Mbappe in the latest edition of the world’s biggest derby, but still that wasn’t enough to prevent Los Blancos from losing for a fourt consecutive time to its bitter rival.
That came despite Madrid going 2-0 up inside a quarter of an hour in Montjuic, as Carlo Ancelotti’s men then succumbed to four Blaugrana strikes before half time.
Though he has had plenty of matches to remember against the Catalans in the past – which includes scoring El Clasico’s fastest hat trick in the Spanish Super Cup at their expense in 2024 – this latest showing was one to forget and saw the Brazilian hobbling off in the 89th minute and being replaced by Victor Munoz.
As a side note, it has been suggested that Munoz being brought on instead of Rodrygo is a sign that Vini’s compatriot is evidently on his way out of the club in the summer, though that’s a topic for another day.
That at hand here is that when Vinicius made his way to the bench upon being hooked, he was swiftly embroiled in a confrontation with a Barca fan that goaded him with a beach ball.
This is a nod to Vinicius being snubbed for the Ballon d’or late last year. The 24-year-old was widely expected to take home the sport’s highest individual honor at a star-studded France Football ceremony in Paris only to be snubbed at the last minute while Manchester City midfielder Rodri was crowned instead.
In Spain, the Ballon d’Or is known as the ‘Balon de Oro’ (‘the ball of gold’ if it were translated literally), and rival fans have taken to singing chants mocking Vinicius for having instead won a ‘Balon de playa’ (’beach ball’).
While it’s difficult to see what Vinicius said back to the fan, he clearly wasn’t happy and in a typical fingerpointing mood as often seen when losing his cool.
Vinicius has an uncertain Real Madrid future
With a big money offer from Saudi Arabia presumably being put on the table again this summer, it’s possible that Sunday’s could have been Vinicius’ last Clasico.
Ancelotti is tipped to be on his way out of Real Madrid too, and it remains to be seen if Vinicius decides to stay at the Bernabeu or make sure that he is only reunited with the Italian while on international duty if the tactician takes a vacant Brazil head coach vacancy.