Brazilian superstar Vinicius Junior responded to Real Madrid booing fans by winning the Man of the Match award as Real Madrid thrashed French side AS Monaco in Tuesday night’s UEFA Champions League clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The 25-year-old was at the receiving end of jeers and boos from angry Real Madrid fans during the weekend as Madrid clobbered to a 2-0 win over Levante in La Liga with teammate Kylian Mbappe jumping to his defence during a press conference on Monday.
However, on Tuesday night the Brazilian ace made a huge statement by providing two assists and scoring an outstanding finish as Real Madrid sealed their spot in the knockout phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League competition after annihilating Ligue 1 side AS Monaco 6-1.
Argentine Franco Mastantuono was the key architect for the opening goal as he located Fede Valverde inside the box who in turn placed an inviting ball for Kylian Mbappe. The French attacker slotted the ball home to open the floodgate.
On the 26th minute mark, the Brazilian employed a trivela technique to find Mbappe in space with the World Cup winner grabbing his 11th goal of this season’s edition of the competition.
Vini then set up Mastantuono for the third before forcing German Thilo Kehrer to score an own-goal 4 minutes later.
The 2024 FIFA Best winner went on a solo move before smashing the ball past the Monaco keeper to register his name on the score-sheet. He celebrated his goal with head coach Alvaro Arbeloa.
English midfielder Jude Bellingham cemented the win with an 80th minute goal.
