Rather than being affected by what he saw, Vinicius was named Man of the Match in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs after a brilliant performance for Real Madrid – including an assist for Jude Bellingham’s winner in the 90+2 minute. “I saw that banner,” Vinicius told Movistar. “But when the opposing fans do something, it always gives me more strength to play a great game, and here I did it… Man.City know our history and everything we have done in this competition.”

Meanwhile, coach Carlo Ancelotti said in his post-match press conference: “I don’t know if Vini saw it. But after watching the game, if he saw it, it was probably a big motivation for him.” Man City manager Pep Guardiola said he had not seen the banner, but admitted Vinicius was “an extraordinary player”.

Real Madrid scored two late goals to Man City 3-2 at the Etihad on Tuesday, a victory that puts the defending champions in a commanding position heading into the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on February 19. “This is how the game went,” said Ancelotti. “We have been talking about it for a long time. The season really starts now, and despite all the difficulties, we have had a very good result. Our back four Raul Asencio, Aurelien Tchouameni, Federico Valverde and Ferland Mendy have never played together, or even trained together, but they had a spectacular game. From this situation, we have got something good.”

The Italian coach said he expected two more veteran defenders – Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba – to be available for the return leg.