Vinicius Junior spoke of his admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo after emulating the all-time Real Madrid leading marksman's celebration while scoring a 32-minute hat-trick in the club's 4-1 demolition of Barcelona to win the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday.
Brazil international Vinicius struck twice inside the first 10 minutes and added a penalty six minutes before the break as Madrid humiliated the reigning La Liga champions at Riyadh's King Saud University Stadium, where Ronaldo plays his club football for Saudi Pro League club side Al Nassr.
"I'm very excited about what we did today," the Player of the Match said after Madrid, who are seven points above Barca in the top flight, earned their second victory in the fixture this season an avenged their 3-1 loss to their Clasico rivals in this final a year ago.
"It's not easy to play against Barcelona and to win 4-1 is very difficult. The celebration was for Cristiano, who is my idol and is playing here now. The people of Arabia have shown a lot of love for me and I'm very happy about that."
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Barca had a flicker of hope when Robert Lewandowski briefly halved the deficit in between Vinicius's second and third goals, but Rodrygo compounded their misery by scoring after the interval before Vinicius' marker, Ronald Araujo, was sent off for a second yellow card.
"We put in an almost perfect performance," assessed Vinicius, thanking Madrid's medical team, staff and squad after continuing his comeback from a thigh injury in spectacular style. "We just needed to not concede that goal from Lewandowski.
"I'm not at my best yet because I've only played three games [since being injured], but I'm very happy with today's performance and I
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