Vinícius Júnior produced a man of the match performance to help Real Madrid defeat Manchester City 3-2 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout playoffs.
With talks of Vinícius Júnior’s Ballon d’Or loss gaining global attention before the match, Man City fans ahead of the knockout phase playoff first leg unveiled a banner showing City midfielder Rodri with the Ballon d’Or trophy along with the Oasis song title “Stop Crying Your Heart Out.”
Despite the antics from fans, Vinícius was named Player of the Match by UEFA after starring for Madrid on the night, including creating Jude Bellingham’s 92nd-minute winner by lobbing a pass over City’s stranded goalkeeper Ederson.
“I saw [the banner],” Vinícius told Movistar. “But when opposition fans do things, it always gives me more strength to play a great game, and here I did that. … [City] know our history, and everything we’ve done in this competition.”
Vinicius Junior poses for a photo with his PlayStation Player of the Match trophy after the match against Manchester City (Photo by Julian Finney – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Madrid boycotted the Ballon d’Or ceremony in October last year, in protest of Vinícius missing out on the trophy.
“I don’t know if Vini saw it,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said in his postmatch news conference. “But having seen the game, if he saw it, it was a big motivation for him.”
Meanwhile, City coach Pep Guardiola said he hadn’t seen the banner, while acknowledging that Vinícius is “an extraordinary player.”
Ancelotti said his side had a “slight advantage” in the tie after the 3-2 win, with the second leg to come next week at the Bernabéu.
“This is the way,” Ancelotti said. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time. The season really starts now, and despite all our difficulties, we’ve got a very good result.
“The four at the back [Raúl Asencio, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Federico Valverde and Ferland Mendy] had never played together or even trained together, and they had a spectacular game. … From this emergency, we got something good.”
Real Madrid will be eager to have a fully fit defense line when Manchester City visit the Spanish capital in the next few days.
