Real Madrid won a crucial Clasico (2-1) against FC Barcelona, but this victory was overshadowed by an unexpected scene. In the 71st minute, Vinicius Junior exploded in anger when his number was displayed for an early exit. Cries, gestures of exasperation and hasty departure for the locker room: the Brazilian, although brilliant until then, offered a contrasting image of his volcanic temperament. It was then that a member of the Madrid staff took charge of the situation, in the silence of the Bernabéu tunnel.
The shadow man in the Madrid locker room
This man is Luis Llopis, the goalkeeping coach of Real Madrid. A figure respected for his frankness and his human sense, Llopis followed Vinicius into the locker room to calm him down. For several minutes, he talked one-on-one with the player, convincing him to come back and sit on the bench. Thanks to his intervention, the Brazilian regained his composure and watched the end of the match from the sidelines, sitting just behind Xabi Alonso, whom he had ignored as he left the field. This gesture by Llopis prevented the incident from taking on dramatic proportions.
The episode takes place in a tense evening. Vinicius, author of a remarkable performance, had caused a penalty canceled by the VAR and multiplied the incisive dribbles before his exit. But after the victory, the tension rose a notch: following the exclusion of Pedri, an altercation broke out between the two benches. Vinicius, returning to the pitch, clashed verbally with Lamine Yamal, before being held back by his teammates as the situation degenerated.
Bernabéu: the scene that no one saw between Vinicius and a Real executive
Real tries to put out the fire
At a press conference, Xabi Alonso preferred to calm the debates: “Vini contributed a lot. There are different personalities, but no serious problems,” he declared. On the club's side, management has chosen discretion: no sanction, but an internal call to order. The incident will be managed “with family”,
according to sources close to the locker room. The objective is clear: protect the balance of the group while preserving the relationship between Alonso and his attacker.
This episode, however, reveals a latent divide. Vinicius struggles to adapt to the positional play imposed by Alonso, more demanding defensively than Ancelotti's system. In the space of ten matches, he was replaced seven times, an unprecedented feat for him. The saving intervention of Luis Llopis undoubtedly avoided an immediate rupture, but Real knows that it will now have to combine the rigor of the coach and the sensitivity of a player with a strong character. The newfound peace is perhaps only a respite before new decisive discussions.
