Gabriel Jesus pays tribute to Vinicius Jr in win over Brentford

Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus paid tribute to his Brazilian teammate Vinicius Jr who has been a victim of racial abuse in recent days.

The Real Madrid forward has been criticised for his dance celebration by Spanish football agent Pedro Bravo earlier this week as not being respectful after he danced following his goal against Real Mallorca.

His comments sparked outrage as Bravo stated that Vinicius Jr should ‘stop playing the monkey’ during his outburst.

Bravo said live on air on El Chiringuito: ‘You (Vinicius Jr) have to respect the opponent.

‘If you want to dance, go to the sambadrome in Brazil. In Spain, you have to respect rivals and stop playing the monkey.’

He would later apologise for his remarks, insisting that he was not intending to be racist.

‘I want to clarify that the expression “playing the monkey” that I have misused to qualify Vinicius’ goal celebration dance was done metaphorically (doing stupid things),’ he said.

‘Since my intention was not to offend anyone, I sincerely apologise. I am sorry!’

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The agent isn’t the only one who has a problem with the Real Madrid forward’s celebration. Atletico Madrid captain Koke has also expressed his displeasure over Vinicius Jr’s dancing in the pre match press conference ahead of the Madrid derby.

“If in the end he scores a goal and decides to dance, that’s what he wanted to do. Would we understand it or not? Everyone has their way of being and celebrates the goals as they want.

“There would be trouble for sure, it’s the most normal thing.”

Vinicius Jr has garnered a lot of supportive messages from his club, teammates and various other celebrities including football legend Pele. They have advised him to NOT stop dancing.

In an obvious show of support to Vinicius Jr, Jesus broke into a dance after scoring Arsenal’s second goal in the Premier League game against Brentford.

Jesus also posted on Twitter on Friday in support of his fellow countryman ‘Danca, Vini!’ (Dance, Vini!)

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