Vinicius Junior imitated the Cristiano Ronaldo ‘nap’ celebration that has been trending among athletes. He did it yesterday after his team Real Madrid dismantled Liverpool 5-2 at Anfield yesterday.
The Reds had a strong start to the game, with Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah scoring a goal each in the first 14 minutes, but Vinicius Junior replied with two goals to tie the game at halftime. Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid then totally outplayed them in the second half, with goals from Eder Militao and Karim Benzema completing a 5-2 triumph. It was Liverpool’s heaviest loss in the Champions League at Anfield.
The main man for Real’s destruction of Liverpool was Vinicius. His first goal was beautifully shot in the right corner after navigating in the box with a one-two pass with Benzema. The second goal was thanks to an error from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker when he was clearing a pass from Joe Gomez but shot it right at an incoming Vinicius which deflected into the back of the net, completing his brace. In celebration of the goal, the Brazilian star paid tribute to Ronaldo by imitating his new iconic celebration.
Ronaldo is obviously not a figure liked by Liverpool fans as he played for bitter rivals Manchester United and scored against them multiple times. He won nine trophies there and dominated the Premier League during his time. So Vinicius’s celebration added insult to their nightmare of a game.
Vinicius even shared a photo of the celebration on Instagram after the win with the caption, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is REAL MADRID šš¤”
Vinicius Jr on Instagram š¤ pic.twitter.com/KhBxH1p8xS
— TCR. (@TeamCRonaldo) February 21, 2023
Ronaldo did the first ‘nap’ celebration when he scored the winner in a 2-1 game at Everton in October of 2022. The celebration apparently is for the striker’s love of napping and was conceived from a joke with his then teammates in the Manchester United locker room.
Since then a lot of soccer players and athletes around the world have copied the celebration. Ronaldo is widely regarded as the GOAT of soccer and is loved by many around the world, including fellow athletes and up-and-coming ones.
Vinicius is also one such fan it seems. He had previously performed Ronaldo’s signature ‘Siuu’ celebration when he scored in a 2-0 win against Barcelona back in March of 2020. In fact, Ronaldo was in the stands for the game.
