Vinicius, Simeone and Florentino

El Derbi Madrileno is one of the most exciting and fieriest derbies in the world. Even though, given the number of titles won and the popularity of the clubs, Real Madrid against Barcelona is bigger, Atletico and Real still had some feisty duels over the decades. And due to colorful character of Vinicius Jr., we have a rivalry inside the rivalry: the Brazilian against Diego Simeone. Vinicius’ behavior on the pitch in recent years got him only trouble with various players and fans all around the world. But the Brazilian always finds the way to have the last laugh and it happened twice in the last week.

In January 2026, Real and Atletico were against each other in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia. Xabi Alonso’s men won 2-1, but the result was overshadowed by an ‘incident’ between Vinicius (who else) and Diego Simeone. After Atletico bench protested over a potential penalty, the Brazilian walked towards the Atletico bench: “Yeah, yeah, they’re going to give you a penalty”. Simeone told him to keep playing but Vinicius approached him and repeated “Relax, they’ll give you a penalty now”. That is when, captured by Movistar Plus+ cameras, Simeone told Vinicius: "Florentino is going to get you fired, 'remember' what I'm telling you".

“Florentino is going to kick you out“

On Sunday, Real defeated Atletico again, and this time, Vinicius served his ‘revenge’. He not only scored a brace in a 3-2 win, but hyped the Santiago Bernabeu crowd as he was passing by Cholo and on his was to the bench in the 86th minute. The Atletico coach pointed him out and warned the fourth official about the Brazilian's gestures but there was no punishment. And then Vinicius game a post-match comment.

"I'm very happy because I've worked all season for matches like these. And when this moment in the season arrives... I don't know what happens to me, I always improve. I always score and provide assists. The president Florentino Perez always tells me I have to score two goals and today I scored two, they're for him," the Brazilian declared on Real Madrid TV.

Red card, wonder goals and Atletico's resistance: Vinicius fires Los Blancos through derby chaos

Vinicius also had a moment of ‘revenge’ earlier during the week when he scored at the Etihad stadium and then taunted Manchester City fans.

“The last time I came to Man City, they were making fun of me and saying I was crying because of the Ballon d’Or – it was a way of proving myself to the Man City fans” he said after the game.