Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has spoken to the press ahead of their clash with Real Madrid on Wednesday, revealing that he gave Vinicius Junior a hug out of respect after the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
It has been a repetitive and constant theme in the Spain this season, and again the bear was poked with a question to Walker about Vinicius from the visiting press.
First of all, Walker was asked why it was that he went to hug Vinicius after the game at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“Well I went to hug him, because he tried to rainbow flick me, don’t try that, because I don’t want to become a meme. No but we had a good battle, I have a lot of respect for him, it when it has been a good game, a good a battle, and at the end of it, you show your respect. When the whistle goes tomorrow though, that goes out of the window, and it’s dog eat dog.”
Questioned whether Vinicius was a provocative player, Walker admitted that Vinicius knows the dark arts of the game, but did not see anything out of the ordinary with that.
“I wouldn’t say provocative. But he is a very good player, he does what he needs to do in order to help his team. I try not to get involved with players trying to wind me up, and trash-talking.”
“If he’s going down easy and asking for yellow cards, it’s part and parcel of the game. You’re gonna get it, but let’s not take his football away from him. He’s a top player.”
Vinicius has obviously suffered horrendous racial abuse in Spain this season, which is yet to face the response it deserves.
One of the counter-arguments in Madrid to Vinicius’ being ‘provocative’ has been that the Brazilian does not seem to get into arguments in Champions League football. However it is also true that against Manchester City, he played with an entirely different attitude than the one he showed against Osasuna just days previously in the Copa del Rey final.
Enough talking walker. All i need from u is to pocket vini and u guys should go to instabul.