Vinícius Jr. sparked another controvery in his Real Madrid visit to Vallecas, a neighbourhood in the south of Madrid with a team, Rayo Vallecano, that regularly plays first division -which currently has former Real Madrid star James Rodríguez, although the Colombian rarely plays anymore-.
The thrilling match ended in a draw, 3-3. Vinícius was involved in some of the more questionable plays: after a foul by Rayo wasn't sanctioned with a card, he confronted the referee and got himself a red card. Later, he suffered a fould that should have been considered a penalty in favour or Real Madrid.
At the end of the match, Rayo fans were singing "Vinícius balón de playa", "Vinícius Beach Ball", mocking his loss at this year Ballon d'Or race. As he exited the pitch, he responded the Rayo fans by pointing two fingers down, meaning that Rayo Vallecano could be relegated to Second Division.
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That gesture was captured on TikTok and widely spread on social media, and Martín Presa, president of Rayo Vallecano, condemned his actions on radio station COPE: "I think that these attitudes, especially that of Vinicius, are often not appropriate".
"I think that footballers, in the end, must be professionals and that these attitudes towards the public in the stands should not occur," he continued. However, he added that the club won't take legal actions against the Brazilian player with the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) Disciplinary Committee. If they had found him guilty after the process, Vinícius could have faced a one match suspension.
"I think the second division thing is very ugly, whether sung by a fan or said by a professional", Presa said. One day later, Barcelona fans chanted the same thing to Leganés, after FC Barcelona lost 1-0 against a team promoted this year to first division.