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Manchester City fans mocked Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior before their Champions League playoff clash on Tuesday, unfurling a banner showing Rodri kissing the Ballon d’Or trophy alongwith the Oasis lyric “Stop crying your heart out.”
City midfielder Rodri pipped Vinícius to the prestigious men’s individual award handed out by France Football magazine in October, beating his Madrid counterpart by just 41 points out of 6,633 total points.
In response, Vinícius and anyone connected to Madrid skipped the ceremony in Paris. Months later, Vinícius won the FIFA the Best men’s award — FIFA’s version of the award.
City and Madrid have developed a competitive rivalry in recent seasons, with Tuesday’s clash marking the fourth straight season they have met in the Champions League knockout rounds. Each time, those games became a prerequisite for winning the famous ttrophy.
Last season, they met in the quarterfinals, resulting in draw in both leg before the Spanish giants eventually went through on penalties and went on to lift the title against Borussia Dortmund.
The year before, City won 5-1 on aggregate in the semifinals before beating Inter Milan in the final to complete a historic treble.
Before that, in 2021-22, Madrid emerged victorious from the two legs in the semifinal, going on to beat Liverpool in the final.
“It feels like a Clásico now, because we’ve played them now for many years,” Ancelotti told a pre-match news conference on Monday.
“I still think City are one of the best teams in Europe. City have the best coach [Pep Guardiola] in this competition. It’s one of the most difficult games you can have … And the same goes for us, we’re competitive, despite the emergency we face.”
He added: “The team that goes through to the next round has the possibility to go far in the competition. In the last years, the team that won this tie, won the Champions League.”