“Making fun of me the last time” – Vinicius Jr. explains crying face celebration in Manchester City win | OneFootball

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. has explained why he decided to mock the Manchester City fans in his side’s 2-1 UEFA Champions League win at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.

The 25-year-old was at the double as Los Blancos secured a 5-1 aggregate win over Pep Guardiola‘s men to reach the quarter-final after Federico Valverde scored a brilliant hat-trick in last week’s opening leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Manchester City had a mountain to climb on Tuesday night if they wanted to pull off a miraculous comeback but after Bernardo Silva was sent off for a goal line handball on the 20 minute mark, Vinicius Jr. made amends for missing a crucial spot-kick last week by converting from 12 yards to silence the Etihad Stadium.

Erling Haaland pulled a consolation goal back for the Blues on the cusp of half-time but it was too little, too late for Manchester City, who defended with their lives for 70 minutes with 10 men but fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat on the night courtesy of an injury-time Vinicius Jr. winner.

Vinicius Jr: Celebration was a way to prove myself to Manchester City’s fanbase

Vinicius Jr. was the hero of the second leg as he enjoyed a sweet brace against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, where he was mocked by a tifo displaying Ballon d’Or winner Rodri after the Spain international pipped the forward to the 2024 trophy.

Much of made of Real Madrid altogether boycotting the Ballon d’Or award ceremony in Paris in 2024, with Vinicius Jr. coming on social media and saying “he would work 4 times harder” to win the Ballon d’Or in future as he decided against attending the ceremony felicitating Rodri – a move that didn’t go down well with the Manchester City fanbase.

The Brazil international appeared to mock the home fans on Tuesday night with a crying face celebration after beating Gianluigi Donnarumma from the penalty spot – after Silva was shown a red card following a VAR check.

Explaining his celebration in post-match conversation with Prime Video Sport, Vinicius Jr. said: “The last time I came to Manchester City (in February 2025), they were sort of making fun of me, saying maybe I was crying about the Ballon d’Or.

“I wasn’t disrespecting the Manchester City fans (with my celebration), it was just a way to sort of prove myself to the Manchester City fanbase today.”

The celebration prompted boos from the Etihad Stadium but it is fair to say that Vinicius Jr. did his talking on the pitch this time, terrorising the Manchester City defence from start to finish and were it not for his wastefulness and a series of offside decisions, he could have walked away with four or five goals.

Should Bayern Munich see out their 6-1 opening leg lead against Atalanta on Wednesday night, Vinicius Jr. and Real Madrid will face off against Vincent Kompany’s high-flying side in the quarter-final stage of the competition.