Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. displayed leadership and won hearts as he gave up his chance to take a penalty in a La Liga game. Instead of taking the penalty duties himself, he let the new member in the team, Kylian Mbappe take the kick. The incident took place during the clash against Real Betis, where Vinicius Jr.’s side took down their rivals with a margin of 2-0. Vinicius has always been Real Madrid’s go-to penalty taker, however, his act of letting the French striker take the opportunity won hearts of several fans.
The game saw Mbappe scoring two goals in a duration of less than 10 minutes, finally ending his goal drought in the La Liga. Notably, in the game, Mbappe opened the scoring with a low left-footed goal from inside the area after a pass from Federico Valverde in the 67th minute of the game. The French striker then extended his goal tally in the 75th minute as he converted a penalty kick after a foul on Vinicius Jr.
After the game, the former PSG star was asked if he wants to be the successor to Portugal football great, Cristiano Ronaldo. On this, the 25-year-old said that Ronaldo is his idol, but he doesn’t want that kind of pressure and wants to be Mbappe. He told the media, “Successor to Cristiano Ronaldo? He is my idol, yes. But no, I don’t want that pressure. I want to be Kylian. Only pressure I have is of having to adapt to the team.”
Speaking about scoring for his new side, Mbappe said, “I was looking forward to scoring in this legendary stadium, the best in the world. But the most important thing was the victory. After the game against Las Palmas we knew that we had to win and we did it. It was a tough match, but we are Real Madrid and in the end we won it.”