Last year, Real Madrid threw a temper tantrum for Vinicius Junior just before the 2024 Ballon d'Or awards. This year, Vinicius Junior threw a temper tantrum against his manager in El Clasico, where others stole the spotlight for the right reasons.
Xabi Alonso's men now hold an unassailable five-point lead over Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table courtesy of a tetchy 2-1 victory over their long-time rivals, who succumbed to first-half goals from Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham either side of a Fermin Lopez response.
In quintessential fashion, the Clasico descended into chaos at full time, as Barca lynchpin Pedri was sent off for a second bookable offence with virtually the last act of the game, sparking a quarrel between players and staff that Vinicius was in the thick of.
However, the Brazil international initially did not even rub shoulders with his teammates on the Bernabeu bench after being taken off in the 72nd minute of the derby, at a time when Barcelona were huffing and puffing for the leveller and Real had lost their way in attack.
Vinicius looked incredulously towards the sideline when his number was raised, before throwing his arms up, exclaiming what were no doubt profanities and storming off the field, barely acknowledging his replacement Rodrygo as he stuck his hand out to high five the substitute.
Alonso and Vinicius ignored one another in the manner of former lovers who broke up on bad terms, and rather than will his players on from the dugout - at least at first - the apoplectic attacker trudged down the tunnel to shout and swear some more.
Alonso's call was vindicated, as Real Madrid ended a four-match losing run against Barcelona in all competitions and assumed full control of the La Liga title race. But did Vinicius nearly have a point?
Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Xabi Alonso almost left with egg on his face in El Clasico
"That's Vinícius having his tantrum" ?️
The Brazilian wasn't best pleased with Xabi Alonso's decision to sub him off in ElClásico ?
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The pre-game notes detailed boosts for Real Madrid and blows for Barcelona, who were forced to face a reinforced Blancos backline without the influential Raphinha or chief centre-forward Robert Lewandowski, while Alonso had Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dani Carvajal back from injury.
After both sides felt each other out for a good 20 minutes or so, Los Blancos began to ask serious questions of the Barcelona high line, and the champions did not have the answers to Bellingham's wonderful threaded pass through to Mbappe for the hosts' opener.
Arda Guler could hang his head in shame soon after, as his mistake allowed the red-hot Lopez to level matters, but more appalling defending from the Blaugrana led to Bellingham restoring Real's lead with what proved to be the decisive goal.
Any full-time discussion centring around Vinicius should have been focusing on the Brazilian's critical role in Bellingham's goal, as the winger got to the byline and sent in a looping cross to the back post, which Eder Militao nodded down into the Englishman's path.
Hansi Flick's dodgy defence was there for the taking, but after Wojciech Szczesny saved an Mbappe penalty early in the second half, Real Madrid had less interest in adding to their lead and put themselves in unnecessarily risky positions at the back.
Had Alonso wanted to shut up shop against Barca - whose starboy Lamine Yamal was far from his scintillating best - taking off Vinicius for a defender would not have raised many eyebrows. The issue lay with Alonso's alterations.
The Spaniard instead opted for like-for-like substitutions - Rodrygo for Vinicius, Brahim Diaz for Guler, Dani Ceballos for Bellingham and Gonzalo Garcia for Mbappe - rather than trying to bolster his backline. His only defensive change was an enforced one, as Carvajal replaced an injured Federico Valverde.
Meanwhile, all of Alexander-Arnold, Ferland Mendy, Fran Garcia, and Raul Asencio were left watching on helplessly from the bench - Alonso could be forgiven for not risking the former two following their injuries, but there was nothing stopping him from shoring up his defence with either of the latter pair.
Largely thanks to Barcelona's lack of a killer penetrative pass or final shot, the champions' 74% possession amounted to nothing, but Alonso's game management can be justifiably called into question.
Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Was Vinicius's tantrum passion or petulance?
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior on April 20, 2025
During his 72 minutes on the field, Vinicius was giving Jules Kounde one of the roughest rides the Barcelona right-back will experience, completing a fabulous five successful dribbles from six attempts on the left-hand side.
The 25-year-old's meltdown divided opinion among supporters on social media, with some pointing the finger at Alonso for taking off one of his most dangerous players, and others criticising the player for losing his rag.
For those of us who are not professional sportspeople, there cannot be an element of empathy, but certainly one of sympathy, as tempers are always going to run high in such an emotionally-charged fixture as El Clasico, where every player from both teams just wants to get onto the pitch.
Vinicius clearly felt he was playing well, and the stats would back that up, but above all else, players must respect their superiors and the decisions that they make.
Alonso may be no Carlo Ancelotti - at least not yet - but the manager who ended Bayern Munich's perpetual reign of Bundesliga dominance and oversaw Bayer Leverkusen's astonishing Invincibles campaign is the furthest thing from naive.
The 43-year-old will make mistakes like any manager - novice or experienced - but the scoreline suggests that he got the biggest calls correct today, so Vinicius's temper tantrum undoubtedly reflects worse on him than it does Alonso.
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