Carragher slams Man City for ‘absolutely ridiculous’ Vinicius Jr banner in Real Madrid loss
Jamie Carragher has hit out at Man City for their “absolutely ridiculous” banner mocking Vinicius Junior ahead of their 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Two Erling Haaland goals either side of a Kylian Mbappe strike gave the Citizens a largely deserved lead on 80 minutes – but two bits of poor defensive play allowed Real Madrid to take a one-goal lead into the second leg at the Bernabeu next week.
Brahim Diaz grabbed the leveller after Ederson pushed the ball out into his path before Jude Bellingham netted the winner in injury time as he rolled the ball into an empty net.
And now Man City will have to overturn a one-goal deficit in the second leg with the winner playing either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.
The players walked onto the Etihad Stadium pitch before the match with Man City fans holding a huge banner with Rodri kissing the Ballon d’Or trophy and the words ‘Stop crying your heart out’.
It was an obvious dig at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr, with the Brazilian and Los Blancos refusing to turn up at the Ballon d’Or event after realising the 24-year-old would be pipped to the award by the Man City midfielder.
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When asked about the banner on CBS Sports, Liverpool legend Carragher said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous, why would you do that?
“I know having a laugh and a joke… but what do you gain from that? Even if it’s the fans, why annoy people? Why wind someone up? Do it at the end of the game if you’ve beat them and knocked them out.
“I don’t know what you get out of it, what do you gain out of that?
“It’s not funny tonight, is it? I just don’t like it. You know what, if I was a Man City player… if I was coming out and say Steven Gerrard had won the Ballon d’Or and we were playing Real Madrid and he’d beaten one of their players, that’d annoy me if I was a Liverpool player. It’s like a jinx, I don’t like stuff like that.
“Why wind up some of the best players in the world? Top-level footballers, I know Real Madrid acted like babies not going there [to the Ballon d’Or ceremony] but you act like the proper club.
“Everyone laughed at Real Madrid not going to the Ballon d’Or when it was Vinicius Jr or Ancelotti not picking up the manager of the year, the whole team, that was embarrassing for a club like Real Madrid just because they haven’t won it in one season, someone else won the Ballon d’Or.
“Man City don’t need to go to what they [Madrid] were doing – have the bit of class.”
