Vinicius Jr
January 2026
Vinicius and Simeone exchanged words on the touchline when the Real forward was substituted during Madrid’s Super Cup semi-final win over Atletico in Saudi Arabia. TV audio captured Simeone taunting Vinicius about Florentino Perez. Simeone later downplayed it, saying what happens on the pitch stays there while stressing respect for Madrid players.
Erling Haaland
December 2025
Manchester City overturned a 1-0 deficit to beat Real Madrid 2-1 away, with Nico O’Reilly’s close-range finish and an Erling Haaland penalty cancelling out Rodrygo’s opener and pushing City up to fourth in the Champions League league-phase standings. Madrid briefly thought they had an early penalty before VAR ruled Matheus Nunes’ foul outside the box, and after Rodrygo’s breakaway strike, City exploited Madrid’s defensive lapses, with Haaland punishing Antonio Rüdiger’s foul while the hosts were later denied by misses from Jude Bellingham and Endrick.
Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)
November 2025
Vinicius Jr has eased his stance in renewal talks and is now close to accepting Real Madrid’s reduced salary offer, stepping back from initial demands to match Kylian Mbappe’s pay as the club pushes to secure his long-term future before 2027. Earlier, negotiations froze amid tension with Xabi Alonso as Vinicius bristled at substitutions, clashed during El Clasico and led a small disgruntled group, but a dressing-room apology and public embrace after the 4-3 win at Olympiacos have reset relations and unlocked progress.
Antonio Rudiger, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid)
April 2025 (UEFA ruling ahead of April 8 UCL match)
Rudiger, Mbappe, and Ceballos have been fined but avoided bans for gestures made during the penalty win over Atletico Madrid. Vinicius was cleared.
UEFA found the players violated rules of decent conduct. Rudiger (€40k), Mbappe (€30k), and Ceballos (€20k) were each fined. Suspensions of one UEFA match were issued to Rudiger and Mbappe—but these are under a one-year probation. If either breaks UEFA conduct rules again during this period, the ban becomes active and they will miss their next eligible UEFA match.
