The rivalry between Pablo Maffeo and Vinicius Jr. is already, at this point, one of the fiercest in LaLiga EA Sports. In the match that served to start the adventure of the current LaLiga champion, Real Madrid, in the 2024/25 season, the Merengues, with a squad full of stars, suffered a hard setback when they drew (1-1) against RCD Mallorca at Son Moix.
Rodrygo Goes scored for Real Madrid, but the Brazilian who was most talked about after the match was none other than Vinicius Jr., who once again starred in another episode of his intense rivalry with the Spanish-born Argentine full-back.
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Pablo Maffeo spoke to Vinicius: “I told him to stop the nonsense”
For several seasons now, Pablo Maffeo and Vinicius Jr. have been involved in intense clashes in LaLiga. The Argentine, who has always chosen to get into the Brazilian’s head with insults, rough play and calling him a crybaby on the pitch, was involved in a controversial play in the match against Real Madrid that, for many, should have ended in a sending off.
— Out Of Context Football (@nocontextfooty) August 18, 2024
Coming from behind, with the ball in Vinicius’ control and very close to the touchline, Maffeo carried out a violent tackle on the Brazilian Real Madrid player, who did not hesitate to complain about the play.
After the match, Maffeo spoke to journalist Gerard Romero, from the media outlet Jijantes, where he commented on the play and gave more details about the internal dialogues that Vini had in the recent league draw:
📺 DIRECTO @JijantesFC
‼️ Pablo Maffeo y su relación con Vinicius
🗣️ "En la pausa de hidratación le he dicho que nos dejáramos de tonterías, que no tenía sentido seguir con esas cosas. Hemos estado en plan guai."
👍🏻 "Me dicen que es buen tío, y me lo creo."
— Jijantes FC (@JijantesFC) August 18, 2024
To end the controversy, right off the bat, Maffeo assured that he and Vinicius spoke during the match, leaving it all in a rivalry on the court:
“With Vinicius, in this case, we were fine. I took him and I said to him, look, let’s stop fooling around, that’s it, what happened, happened, and he said ‘yeah, yeah, calm down, everything’s fine’. We were cool. And well, I don’t have any problem with him. In fact, I think that, through mutual friends that we have, they tell me that he’s a good guy and I believe it,” he said.
“Right during the hydration break I told him ‘hey come here’, and I told him to stop with the nonsense about last year and the others… there’s no point in continuing with these things because in the end it’s a bad image, and this image has stuck with me and I don’t like it either, and I told him so,” said the Argentine full-back.
“Then I stamped on him and I apologized. I got a yellow card, but it was without force and without anything. I have no problem with him. I know that we have friends in common and they tell me that he is a good guy and I believe them because I don’t see him as malicious. There are people that you see as malicious, but Vinicius is not a person who is malicious when it comes to doing things and such. He will fail in things like everyone else, but I think that if he polishes them he will be very good, and it will be better if he polishes them,” he said.
