Real Madrid's Vinícius Jr sent off for Flamengo amid Botafogo insults
The Brazilian pearl signed by Real Madrid was back to face his current side's bitter rivals following the controversy of the recent equivalent fixture.
The fans of Brazilian side Botafogo had some outstanding business with rival club Flamengo's Vinícius Júnior, and the Real Madrid man din't wait long to give them the ideal opportunity for revenge late in the third round fixture of the Taça Rio.
A controversial celebration after scoring the decisive goal against them in the semi-final of the Taça Guanabara last month meant an angry crowd awaited the arrival of the young pearl. But they had to wait a while for his introduction with coach Carpegiani using him again from the bench, as in the recent Copa Libertadores match against River Plate. That substitution in the 70th minute gave the flambouyant youngster 20 minutes to impress, but he only used half of that.
Vinicius' ten-minute cameo before red card
A fired up Vinícius looked to press the Igor Rabello, who had miscontrolled the ball in the centre of the pitch, but as he sprinted towards him couldn't then put the brakes on as the ball was touched away. He clattered into the big defender and referee immediately went to his pocket to brandish a red card.
This was the incident that the Botafogo fans had been waiting for and they didn't hesitate to fire into the young star as he left the pitch, hurling insults and vicious threats as he headed down the tunnel.
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Vinícius didn't have time to make much of an impact on the game but his teammate Rhodolfo's fourth minute goal was enough for victory. Although not speaking to the media after the game, Real Madrid's future hero did take to social media later in the day saying:
"I always knew that raising your profile would cause controversy, discord, envy and many bad things... God enlightens me and leads me on his path."