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Barcelona defender Eric Garcia couldn’t resist trolling Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during his team’s 4-0 Clasico win at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga.
Eric was captured pointing at the Brazilian and saying to the 21-year-old with a heavy dose of irony, “You next year, Ballon d’Or eh, Ballon d’Or,” as shown by journalist Albert Roge.
Vinicius had a quiet game at the Bernabeu and struggled without Karim Benzema who missed the match because of injury. The youngster also incurred the wrath of Gerard Pique in the first half after a blatant dive.
Pique was spotted with his arm around the Brazilian after the incident, and seemed to be admonishing Vinicius for his protestations to the referee and appeals for a spot-kick, as shown by ESPN.
Barcelona went on to win the game comfortably thanks to a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and goals from Ronald Araujo and Ferran Torres.
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Xavi Makes Changes to His Backline
Barcelona coach Xavi made changes to his backline for El Clasico, notably playing Uruguayan center-back Ronald Araujo at right-back in place of 38-year-old Dani Alves.
The move seemed designed to use Araujo’s pace up against Vinicius and worked well throughout the match. The Brazilian has 14 goals and six assists in La Liga so far this season but struggled to make any impact.
Elsewhere, Eric continued in central defense alongside Pique and put in a commanding performance at the heart of the Barca backline.
The former Manchester City man had come in for plenty of criticism this season but is improving under Xavi and put in one of his best performances of the season at the Bernabeu.
Pique Sends Message After Barcelona Win
Meanwhile, Pique sent out a message about Barcelona just minutes after the final whistle had gone in the Spanish capital. The defender took to Twitter to offer his thoughts on what the result meant for his team.
Fellow defender Dani Alves also offered his thoughts on the win after appearing as a late substitute and making his 400th appearance for the Catalans. The Brazilian made it clear it was a memorable night for many reasons, as reported by Diario AS.
“Winning here is always a pleasure. It’s been a while since we won and it’s always special. And because of how everything happened, because this is the present and you have to live it. This is a great gift, a great night,” he said. “The mission was to recover the identity. And the identity we have will take us to the top. Barça has a philosophy of playing and defending. I think that today it has become clear that if we do what Barça usually does, titles and victories will come because that’s how this club has done. And we dream a lot, and dreaming is free. Let’s give everything and then see what happens.”
The title still looks out of reach for Barcelona but a top-four finish is comfortably within the team’s grasp now. Xavi’s side also remain in contention in the Europa League and play Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals.
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