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Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz and Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho have praised Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior for his hat-trick in the Supercopa de Espana final against Barcelona.
Vinicius put on a show at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh on Sunday, January 14, scoring an incredible first-half hat-trick. The Brazilian took advantage of defensive lapses from Barcelona to score twice in three minutes (7', 10'). He then won a penalty off a Ronald Araujo foul and converted it in the 39th minute.
While Robert Lewandowski scored six minutes before Vinicius' third goal to give the Catalans some hope, Rodrygo's strike in the 64th minute made it 4-1 to Real Madrid. Araujo was then given his marching orders seven minutes later, allowing Carlo Ancelotti's side to stroll to a 13th Supercopa, one behind Barcelona.
Following the game, Vinicius took to Instagram to post a carousel of images from the match. These included photos of him celebrating his goals and one with the Player of the Match trophy. He captioned the post (translated by Instagram):
"Champion!! 🏆🤍 A day for history!! 🗣️ ¡HALAMADRID! 🤍🙌🏾"
The post received comments from two-time Grand Slam champion and Real Madrid fan Alcaraz and Sancho, who is currently on loan at Borussia Dortmund. Alcaraz wrote (translated from Spanish):
"Do what you want 😮💨🔥⚽⚽⚽"
Sancho wrote:
"😮💨🔥"
Vinicius Junior's teammates Jude Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni, Toni Kroos, Fran Garcia, Fede Valverde, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Vinicius Tobias also left comments on the post. You can view all of the comments in the image below:
How has Vinicius Junior fared for Real Madrid this season?
Prior to the Supercopa final, Vinicius Junior had endured a tough run of form for Real Madrid. The forward had scored only six times in 15 matches across competitions this term, but is now up to nine goals and four assists in 16 outings.
His season has largely been disrupted by injury issues. Vinicius first missed four matches in September last year due to a hamstring injury. Less than two months after his comeback, he was ruled out once again due to a torn thigh muscle, forcing him to miss seven games.
Having refound his goalscoring touch with a hat-trick against Barcelona, the Brazilian will look to put together a consistent run of form going forward. His next challenge will be against another rival in Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey on Thursday, January 18.
