With Vinicius Junior watching from the stands, Rodrygo scored the winning goal and raised his fist in solidarity with his Real Madrid and Brazil teammate. It was one of the many tributes to Vinicius in Madrid’s first game since the latest case of racial abuse against the player, who considered leaving the field after being insulted by Valencia fans.
“All the support for Vini was beautiful,” said Rodrygo, whose late goal gave Madrid a 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano in the La Liga on Wednesday. “What happened to him can happen to many players. We know that it has happened a lot of times in football. But we are happy because we see that the world is uniting to fight this.” The show of support came a day after Spanish police arrested seven people on suspicion of hate crime and after Valencia was fined and ordered to partially close its stadium for five games. Vinicius was not on the field because of a minor injury, but his Real Madrid teammates all came out wearing his No. 20 jersey before the kick-off.