Vinicius Junior’s frustrations as he was substituted during Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Kairat Almaty were aimed at his teammates rather than Xabi Alonso, a report has claimed.
Vini Jr. was withdrawn from the eventual 5–0 win in Kazakhstan with around 20 minutes still left to play, and was then seen making arm gestures in the direction of Alonso as he interacted with the manager on his way to the bench.
The obvious assumption was annoyance with Alonso for not letting him finish the game, especially given the displeasure over inconsistent minutes earlier in the season.
However, Alonso, while the intended recipient for the winger’s objections, was not the cause.
Vinicius was instead frustrated by his teammates, per AS. It’s said he was annoyed by his belief that his teammates were ignoring him too often in good positions. There was one instance when Arda Güler didn’t deliver the ball, and another when Franco Mastantuono opted not to pass.
Alonso was asked about it afterwards and played down the interaction with Vinicius as a “comment that we understood,” rather than a “complaint.”
From feeling that he was the true deserving recipient of the Ballon d’Or in 2024, Vinicius is no longer the star man even at his own club. He finished 16th in the 2025 standings, behind Viktor Gyökeres—someone who spent last season outside of a top five European league—and five players at Real Madrid have had more minutes than him so far this season.
Although Vinicius leads the team in assists (four), he’s scored the same number of goals as Güler (three), with Kylian Mbappé ahead in both goals scored (eight) and direct goal involvements (nine).
Vinicius was accused of being disrespectful by opposing defender Unai Elgezabal following the win over Levante last week. The pair clashed after Elgezabal brought down the Brazilian to concede a penalty.
“When we’re disrespected, I think we have to say enough is enough,” the defender said. “I know he’s a player with a lot of potential, but there are different situations that I don’t handle as a person. I think I defend and transmit values that mean sometimes, it has to be said that enough is enough.
“It wasn’t the time for that, for me, it was out of place.”
