The day after the Ballon d'Or ceremony, and after getting plenty of support from his teammates on social media, Brazilian star Vinícius Junior posted the word "together," alongside a photo of Real Madrid's first team. Real Madrid had skipped the ceremony upon learning that neither Vinícius nor Dani Carvajal would win the Ballon d'Or, which ended up going to Manchester City’s Spanish midfielder Rodri Hernández.

The club viewed this decision as “disrespectful” on the part of the Ballon d'Or organizers and UEFA, with whom they’ve had conflicts due to the Super League. This was also the first year UEFA co-organized the event alongside France Football.

No Real Madrid representatives attended the ceremony, despite the club being recognized as the best in the world last season and coach Carlo Ancelotti being named best manager.

The last-minute decision to skip the event was made just before the team was set to board a plane to Paris, as a show of support for Vinícius Junior, who was the frontrunner for the award as late as Monday. On Tuesday, Vinícius doubled down on this message of unity by posting "together" with two white hearts, along with a photo of the current team, club president Florentino Pérez, and honorary president José Martínez 'Pirri'.