Manchester City fans unveil BRUTAL banner mocking Vini Jr after his Ballon d’Or snub ahead of kick-off in their clash with Real Madrid
- Man City midfielder Rodri beat Madrid’s Vinicius Jr to the Ballon d’Or in October
- City face Real Madrid in Champions League play-off first leg on Tuesday evening
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is there an agenda against Ange Postecoglou?
Manchester City supporters have mocked Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr ahead of their Champions League clash against the Spanish giants.
Home fans unfurled a banner depicting injured star Rodri kissing the Ballon d’Or prize he won ahead of the Brazilian. Famously, Vinicius and Real Madrid took the defeat very poorly and boycotted the ceremony last year.
We Are 1894, a Man City fan group, revealed that they would unveil the cheeky sign earlier on Tuesday and five minutes before kick-off they showed off the banner that included the words ‘stop crying your heart out’.
The words on the banner are the song title of Oasis hit song Stop Crying Your Heart Out, released back in 2002.
The earlier post from the City supporters group caught the eye of Oasis lead singer, and infamous Citizen, Liam Gallagher., who replied: ‘SAUCEPOTS’.
In October, news of the Rodri’s victory broke on the morning of the Ballon d’Or ceremony which led to Real Madrid and Vinicius deciding to pull the plug on their trip to the gala, held at the Theatre du Chatelet.
Rodri claimed the top individual prize in football after winning the Premier League with Manchester City and the European Championship with Spain
Vinicus Jr was outraged after discovering that he had finished as runner up in Ballon d’Or voting
The Spanish giants had hoped that even if their Brazilian forward was not given the nod, right-back Dani Carvajal might be handed the gong after winning La Liga, the Champions League, and the Euros.
But when it was leaked that Rodri was, in fact, the winner, Real reacted furiously, and not a single club representative was there to watch their team win several honours at the event and their players place highly in the main list.
However, ahead of Madrid’s fifth clash with City in just six years, boss Carlo Ancelotti stated that the club have no regrets over the way they conducted themselves.
‘I don’t think it was the wrong decision,’ Ancelotti said. ‘We thought Vini was the winner of the Ballon d’Or.
‘It doesn’t mean we don’t respect Rodri because he is a fantastic player. I think Rodri deserved to win it the year before.
‘I was happy for Rodri but Vinicius made an extraordinary year as well,’ he said. ‘He could deserve it, like in the past when [Lionel] Messi and Cristiano [Ronaldo] were fighting for it. So, the subject is over.’
