Manchester City fans seemingly brought the Brazilian’s mockery upon themselves.
Vinicius Junior revealed that, while he wasn’t trying to “disrespect” Manchester City’s fans by pretending to cry during the celebration of his goals at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, he was simply getting own back after the Premier League club’s fans “made fun” of him last year.
in east Manchester thanks to a pair of goals scored by their punchy No. 7. Already in a strong position following a thumping first-leg win back in the Spanish capital, Madrid cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals in midweek with a 5–1 aggregate margin of triumph which was particularly sweet for one Brazilian star. “The last time I came to Man City, they were sort of making fun of me, saying maybe I was crying about the Ballon d’Or,” Vinicius Jr told Amazon Prime. “I wasn’t disrespecting the Man City fans , it was just a way to sort of prove myself to theManchester City’s fans celebrated Rodri’s Ballon d’Or in 2024 against Real Madrid. | Robbie Jay Barratt-AMA/Getty Images When Vinicius Jr and Real Madrid last traveled to the Etihad in February 2025, City were still enjoying Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win four months earlier. The Spanish midfielder was a surprise winner of thewhich many had expected to go to Vinicius Jr. Once news broke that the winger had been snubbed by the judges at France Football, Real Madrid collectively boycotted the ceremony in Paris. City fans twisted the knife when Vinicius Jr traveled to Manchester the following spring, unfurling an enormous banner showing Rodri kissing the Ballon d’Or trophy next to the barb: “Stop crying your heart out.”won 3–2 on that night, thanks a pair of assists from Vinicius Jr, and advanced at City’s expense with another victory in the second leg, yet that sense of bitterness clearly still persisted. “That’s what football is good for, there’s always another chance,” Vinicius Jr knowingly smiled on Tuesday night. “Here we are, we’ve won.”Bayern Munich likely await Real Madrid. | Fabrizio Carabelli/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images Álvaro Arbeloa already had an eye on what may await his Real Madrid side in the knockout stages of the competition. “The Champions League is special for Real Madrid, and we’ve faced one of the best in Europe. And then Bayern and perhaps PSG later,” he predicted. “If we want to win them, we have to play like tonight and as we did six days ago.”head into their second leg with Atalanta in Bavaria boasting a 6–1 advantage from the first tie in Bergamo. It’s hardly an insult to La Dea to assume that the quarterfinals will throw up the latest edition of a fixture which has been billed as a “European Clásico.” “They are one of the most in-form teams in Europe for how they are playing football, the level they are showing both in the league and the Champions League,” Arbeloa said of Bayern. “It will be as difficult as this tie, knowing we have the return match in Munich.” Should Madrid find a way through, they will be faced with the winner of Paris Saint-Germain’s quarterfinal against one of Galatasaray or Liverpool. The reigning European championsin the round of 16 and threaten to have rediscovered the blistering form which underpinned their continental charge last season. This year’s draw has created the mouth-watering prospect of a Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Champions League final—an occasion never graced by the greatest rivalry in the European game.Grey Whitebloom is a writer, reporter and editor for Sports Illustrated FC. Born and raised in London, he is an avid follower of German, Italian and Spanish top flight football.
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