Vinicius Jr celebrates in ‘idol’ Ronaldo’s style in front of the Portuguese star (Source: Reuters and Real Madrid Info Twitter)
Former Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the Santiago Bernabeu Sunday night as a spectator for El Clasico and Vinicius Junior, one of the players who arrived as the Portugal star’s replacement, scored the opening goal against Barcelona. And he copied the Juventus striker’s signature celebration.
Cameras zoomed in on Ronaldo, who was among the nearly 80,000 in attendance at the Bernabeu, as he celebrated the 19-year-old’s opening goal in the 71st minute which gave the hosts the lead in a 2-0 win.
Barcelona looked dangerous in the first half but Madrid took control after halftime, opening the scoring after Vinicius Junior made a run into the area and found the far corner off a through-ball by Toni Kroos. The ball deflected off Gerard Pique’s leg before going past Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Vinicius does the Ronaldo celebration while CR7 is applauding in the stands ?? pic.twitter.com/MZrEkmwpG6
— stefan yu (@yutc0202) March 2, 2020
Cristiano celebrating Real Madrid’s win against Barcelona at the Bernabéu. #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/mjpDXfm5xs
— Real Madrid Info (@RMadridInfo) March 1, 2020
According to reports, Ronaldo visited Madrid’s dressing room during half-time to raise the morale of the Zinedine Zidane side and a picture of the Serie A player with Vinicius has gone viral since. Vinicius paid tribute to the legend for supporting the team and giving them moral support.
Vinicius Junior ??; He (Cristiano Ronaldo) came into the dressing room at halftime to support the team and give us moral support. That’s why I celebrated like him. He’s a winner in & out of the pitch #ElClasico #RMABAR pic.twitter.com/3Cg7Le27qY
— Bobby (@slay_jimmy) March 1, 2020
After the match, Vinius shared a photo of the celebration on his official Instagram handle with the words, “My idol Cristiano”.
“It’s my best night as a Real Madrid player,” Vinicius Junior said after the match. “I always work hard and I knew a moment like this would come.”
Los Blancos won the Clasico for the first time in the last eight attempts. The victory that takes them to the top of La Liga table was made more memorable by substitute Mariano Diaz’s goal in stoppage time.
Lionel Messi had a quiet night, squandering a couple of good chances in one-on-one situations and being shown a late yellow card for a hard foul from behind on Madrid midfielder Casemiro.