Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior was left furious following Gabriel Jesus’ equaliser for Manchester City at the Bernabeu last night. Jesus scored a second half header to give City a priceless away goal and tie the scores at 1-1.
There were suspicions of a push as he tussled with Sergio Ramos to head home Kevin de Bruyne’s cross. VAR did not elect to review the incident and the goal stood. City took the lead from the penalty spot just a few minutes later.
Madrid’s collapse was complete when Sergio Ramos was red carded for a professional foul on Gabriel Jesus in the dying minutes. Madrid winger Vinicius Junior felt his compatriot’s goal should have been ruled out, however.
“Gabriel Jesus committed a foul in the first goal and everyone knows it,” he said after the match. We have the VAR, but the referee didn’t want to go and have a look at the play.I could see it from the sidelines, and it was clear.”
The ex-Flamengo man said that referees often take against Madrid, “Referees always come here and make decisions against us on purpose,” he said. “We are the team that has won the most league titles and most Champions League. It’s always the same. It will always be like this.”
Jesus, however, denied the claim that he shoved Ramos, insisting there was minimal contact before planting the header past Courtois. It was Jesus’ 5th Champions League away goal this season.
“Football is a contact sport, I didn’t push him,” he protested. “I barely used my hand and didn’t make a big movement. I stayed still. It wasn’t a foul.” Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane was measured in his view of the incident.
“The referee told me there was no push and he made his decision,” said Zidane. “What bothers me is what we did, the errors we made hurt a lot because we didn’t deserve this. You have to stay focused for the whole 90 minutes.”
Gabriel Jesus played an unorthodox role for City on the night, though he was preferred to Kun Aguero, he did not play in his usual centre-forward spot. When Madrid had position, he was stationed on the left-wing in front of the City left-back.
Once City broke he made more central runs, culminating in a precious second half goal after Madrid had taken the lead against the run of play through Isco. Jesus earned commendation for his hard-working performance as a kind of left wing-back.
Jesus now has 18 goals and 7 assists for City this season, in a campaign where he has largely played a back-up role to Sergio Aguero at centre-forward. Jesus was also the first Premier League goalscorer in this season’s Champions League knockout rounds.
