Despite engaging in a tight Madrid derby that granted Real Madrid access to the Spanish Supercup final, the central talking point in Spain after their 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid has not been the football. Diego Simeone did his best to wind up Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, and as the Brazilian came off, it worked.

A row ensued between the Real Madrid staff and the Atletico staff on the benches, after Vinicius had to be led away from Simeone. The Argentine manager was seen during the match telling Vinicius that ‘Florentino [Perez] is going to get rid of you’. As he was taken off by Xabi Alonso,  Simeone then told Vinicius to ‘listen’ to the whistles he was greeted by from the partisan Real Madrid crowd. Alonso was highly critical of his opposite number after the match, while Simeone refused to get involved further.

Atletico Madrid believe Vinicius started spat

Simeone has received plenty of criticism in the aftermath though, with some asking the question as to why he got involved. The Atletico Madrid dressing room believe that it was Vinicius who began the war of words though. Marca explain that after a penalty appeal from Atletico, Vinicius went over to the Atletico bench sarcastically saying ‘Yes, yes, they’re going to give you a penalty.’

El Cholo then told Vinicius to continue playing, but Vinicius did not stop, saying ‘Relax, they will give you the penalty now.’ The contention is that it was then when Simeone began his own attempts to wind up Vinicius, in light of his scorn.

This was the play that led to Simeone and the Atleti bench appealing for a possible penalty.

— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) January 9, 2026

Real Madrid believe Simeone crossed the line

Whether that justified Simeone’s comments is another discussion. Real Madrid unsurprisingly felt it was unwarranted, and Diario AS say that Los Blancos are very unhappy with Simeone, believing that he crossed the line, as Alonso noted. They feel that Simeone deliberately went after Vinicius in an attempt to distract him from the game, but that his comments with Vinicius coming off the pitch were purely an attempt to damage Vinicius’ morale, while he was being whistled by the fans.