Vinicius Jr ruled out of Real Madrid’s upcoming game in LaLiga

One hundred and twenty days later, Vinicius Jr peeled away in relief; so explosive was the euphoria that it bordered on the angry, frustrated, and chaotic. Smacks of his face into the crest on his white shirt came in front of the fans who had been booing him until this moment, he was showing them he had cared all along.

It really did take that long for Vini Jr, Real Madrid’s poster boy for so long, to score a goal for his team. The last time, against Villarreal, was way back in October, with Xabi Alonso peering on from the touchline. Vini would score two in that game, and he would only play 35 minutes in the following game after starting on the bench.

The goal against Rayo Vallecano, the moment that allowed him to vent his feelings, was somehow a ‘typical’ Vini goal, even if we have begged to see much more of it over the seasons. He took control of the ball out wide, on the left, and darted inwards like a kingfisher.

Slowing time down around him he stepped inside, rolled the ball outside and cut back onto his right, three defenders now in a pile around him, legs a mess of ivy tangled in shapes talked about only by string theorists and their 14-dimension view of spacetime.

Clipping the crossbar on the way in is perhaps the most aesthetic end to scoring a goal, and even better when it comes after a celestial arc in mid-air to curl around defenders planted like Terracotta warriors buried deep under multiple feet of Chinese soil.

Augusto Batalla’s valiant effort to stop the shot went unnoticed at the sheer beauty of the goal, a true attack on the senses: like viewing a Monet painting done at the same time as Hans Zimmer’s baton strokes the air around him, guiding the mesmerised sound waves into your ears.

But there will be none of that on Sunday when Real Madrid take on Valencia. Vini Jr’s anger when he celebrated the goal was present once again when he overstepped the mark according to Isidro Diaz de Mera Escuderos, the referee for the win over their city rivals. That booking made it five for the season: he will not play against Valencia as he serves his suspension.