Vanderlei Luxemburgoa historic former Brazilian coach, openly criticized the star of the Real Madrid and of the Brazil National Team, Vinícius Jrfor his behavior on the field and held him responsible for the harassment he receives from Spanish fans. “I think he causes a lot of the persecution he suffers by doing things he shouldn’t do.”declared Luxembourg.
In an interview with Benjamín Black for his podcast Benja Me Muchothe former coach of the Merengues in the 2004-2005 season did not keep his opinions about the 24-year-old forward, who recently showed his discontent for not having received the Ballon d’Or 2024.
According to Luxemburgo, this was due to the bad attitude that Vinícius shows on the field, especially with the Real Madrid shirt. He gave as an example the episode in which the Brazilian starred with Joshua Kimmich of Bayern Munichduring the semi-final of the Champions League from last season. When Vinícius was waiting for the ball to resume the match, Kimmich handed it to his hands, but the Brazilian decided to throw it to the ground. The German hit him again, this time in the chest, and Vinícius threw it again.
This exchange quickly went viral on social networks, with mixed opinions among fans.
According to Luxembourg, this type of attitude makes him responsible for the criticism he receives. In turn, one of the Ballon d’Or jurors admitted that his behavior is the main reason why they did not vote for the Brazilian. “Vinicius has definitely not shown signs of having a good fair play“, commented the Panamanian Bruno Porzio. “Taking into account fair play situations and what the others won, he is a player that does not fill my eye.”
The 72-year-old former coach was asked about the impact that racism has on football and how fans and players treat Vinícius, to which he replied: “No, It has nothing to do with racism.. “Racism in football is treated in a very different way.”
Luxembourg also recalled the Merengues forward’s response to receiving a blow in the middle of the game. “A kick comes and then he gets up and attacks the player, as if he couldn’t kick,” and he compared his attitude to that of Pelé and Zico. “Imagine Pelé how many kicks he received, imagine Zico how many he received. He gets irritated with the kicks as if it were a persecution for being black“he concluded.
With Vinícius, Brazil resumes its race for the World Cup against a rebellious Venezuela
Brazil once again has Vinícius Jr. to face Venezuela for the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. When the word “crisis” tormented the most, the yellowish green They corrected the course in the last double pre-World Cup date with victories against Chile (2-1) and Peru (4-0) and will try to ratify that upward trend in their visit to the Monumental Stadium of Maturín.
After missing the two previous games due to injury, Vinicius Jr reappears with Brazil in the midst of the controversy that aroused the Ballon d’Or, an award for which the Real Madrid winger was a favorite and which ended up in the hands of the Spaniard. Rodri del Manchester City.
“I will do it 10 more times if necessary. They are not prepared,” the footballer promised in a social media message after that disappointment.
With information from Agencies