Real Madrid scraped through their Copa del Rey quarter-final clash with Leganes on Wednesday night, with youngster Gonzalo Garcia Torres handing them a 3-2 victory with a last-minute header. That was the headline, but it was another underwhelming performance from Los Blancos, and the tension was palpable on the pitch.
That was most evident between veteran captain Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior, who had started on the bench and come on in the second half. As Los Blancos prepared to defend a corner, Modric was seen remonstrating with his star forward.
#RealMadrid stars Vinicius Junior and Luka Modric were seen arguing yesterday during their Copa del Rey clash with Leganes. Cadena SER say that it was over the Brazilian’s defensive work-rate.pic.twitter.com/Zg5egLJCQM
— Football España (@footballespana_) February 6, 2025
Cadena SER have reported that Modric expressed his frustrations to Vinicius on multiple occasions at Butarque. The 39-year-old was requesting that Vinicius come back to defend the set piece, and got no response from Vinicius. Modric then had to raise his voice again to Vinicius, and Fede Valverde also got involved in order to demand that Vinicius drop his position, which he eventually did.
Unsurprisingly, Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the incident after the game, and he was unaware of the specifics, but chose to back up his captain.
“I don’t know what happened but if Modric says it, we have to respect it. “I always agree with him.”
Vinicius has had a rough start to the year, and since an injury in November, has only managed to score once in Spanish competition in his last eight appearances, although he has provided an assist too.
Meanwhile this is an ongoing issue for Ancelotti. On several occasions it has been reported in the local media that he is not happy with the defensive commitment from his attacking stars, and publicly he has questioned it on several occasions too. Some reports suggest that he may even drop one of the star-studded attacking quartet of Vinicius, Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo Goes for their next big game as a result.
