Atlético fans dangle Vinicius doll under bridge, but Brazilians from Real take great revenge in city derby | Sport

High tension in Madrid last night with the always fraught city derby between Real and Atlético. Some Ultras from Atlético added some fuel to the fire – albeit in a very distasteful way. On a bridge at Valdebebas, Real’s training center, they hung a doll with a Vinicius Junior shirt on Thursday early in the morning. Earlier, the Ultras hung several banners in recent days. “Madrid hates Real”, as a selection from the offer. Both La Liga, Real (“a disgusting act of racism, xenophobia and hatred”) and Atlético condemned the actions. The latter speaks of ‘an abhorrent and unacceptable action that embarrasses society’. The police are investigating the incident.

Vinicius (22) had already fallen victim to racist expressions in the Wanda Metropolitano during the Madrid derby in September. In a video posted to Twitter by radio station COPE, fans of the ‘rojiblancos’ chanted that Vinicius was a monkey. The Spanish court investigated, although it ruled that the chants were “inappropriate and disrespectful”, but also that “they only lasted a few seconds and must be seen in the context of a football match where there is great rivalry”. “Moreover, the culprits could not be identified.” Vinicius was also a target in Valladolid at the end of last year, when everything was thrown at him during his replacement. That is also being investigated.

Two days before that match in Valladolid at the end of December, Vinicius was castigated by player agent Pedro Bravo, who compared the victory dances of ‘Vini’ in a Spanish TV show with those of the Brazilians at the World Cup. “Vinicius shows little respect for the opponent with those celebrations and should stop acting like a monkey.” Bravo was severely beaten and apologized afterwards.

Vinicius himself also made himself heard in that discussion. “They say happiness is important. Well, the happiness of victorious black Brazilians in Europe is even more important. It only increases my will to win. You can’t imagine it. I was a victim of racism because of those dances, but that started before the World Cup. Dances that are not mine, but by Ronaldinho, Neymar, Paquetá, Griezmann, Joao Felix, Mathues Cunha… they belong to Brazilian funk and samba dancers, to reggaeton singers, to black Americans. Those dances are part of the cultural diversity in this world. Accept it, respect it. I’m not going to stop.”

Vinicius also showed that last night, when he celebrated the great equalizer of his compatriot Rodrygo with a samba dance. And even when he scored himself a little later, he was over the moon. And also the last word was for him. “Vini loves Madrid,” he posted on Instagram. And on Twitter he was even sharper. “There is only one in Madrid. Everyone knows that.”

In the quarterfinals, Atlético, where Witsel and Carrasco started on the bench, struck first. Koke and Molina showed the Real defense with keys in one time, Morata beat a hopeless Courtois.

Play that played into the hands of Atlético. The visitors pulled up the wall in Bernabéu, Real only rarely found a hole. Benzema was the only one who could threaten Oblak for a long time, on the other side Courtois prevented the 0-2 and Witsel saw a bicycle kick go wide. Once on the verge of elimination, Rodrygo broke the spell with a coup de génie. Four men passed like cones and then Oblak left without a chance with the outside on the right.

Extensions. Real got up to speed more and more, and Atlético mainly shot themselves in the foot. Savic picked up yellow twice in the same number of minutes, a handful of minutes later Benzema was completely alone at the far post and settled the matter. In the closing seconds, the targeted Vinicius got his gram with the 3-1.

End of story for substitutes Witsel and Carrasco in the Spanish Cup, Real and Courtois not without difficulty to the semi-finals. Possible opponents are Bilbao, Osasuna and FC Barcelona.