Opponent Jose Luis Morales praises classy Vinicius Junior gesture | OneFootball

Villarreal take on Real Madrid on Thursday night (21:00 CEST) in the Copa del Rey, in a rematch of the same fixture two weekends ago. The Yellow Submarine put Los Blancos to the sword 2-1 with an excellent performance in a fiery match at the Estadio de la Ceramica. There is plenty of mutual respect between the players though, even if matters do sometimes spill over.

One player who is well aware of that is Villarreal’s Jose Luis Morales. The former Levante striker was relegated last season at the Santiago Bernabeu and shared a reaffirming moment with Vinicius Junior, who tends to be one of the more marmite characters in La Liga. He told Cadena SER about it.

“I was doing the ‘super flash’ (television interview) and I was crying because we had been relegated to the Second Division, and he came and gave me a hug and gave me a lot of encouragement. In the end, among teammates when unfortunately they have been relegated… I myself was the one who played the same role the following week when they were relegated at Levante – Alaves.”

“In the end, each player empathizes with their colleagues, they know that these are not good times and it is always good for a colleague to come and cheer you up and say a few words of encouragement. Just like I received them from Vinicius, I was one of the first to tell them to my colleagues from Alaves.”

The Brazilian has a reputation for being one of the more difficult characters on the pitch, but Morales’ story is a reminder that the people on the pitch are very different to those off it.

Famously, former Real Madrid central defender Pepe has a reputation for being one of the nice guys away from the pitch, despite some downright violent challenges on it.