First came the siuuu, building it up the feet planting as the crowd hit that last u. Next, the point-at-badge-then-at-pitch, that gesture that says 'I'm here, I got this'. And then came the cup-your-ears-and-nod-your-head, 'serenade my greatness all of you, I'm listening'.
Real Madrid fans have seen one of these or variations of these play out 451 times over nine years, that famous #7 (sure one year it was a #9) asking for -- and getting -- the love of the masses every time the ball hit the back of the net. This was different, though. As much as these celebrations were familiar to Madrid fans, what they hadn't seen was three of them in the same match against their greatest rivals. In the 21st century only three people had scored hattricks in a Clasico: Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, and Karim Benzema. Till Sunday, that is. In the SuperCopa final in Riyadh, on the ground that Real Madrid's greatest goalscorer plies his trade now, Vinicius Junior paid tribute to him after each of his three goals as he entered that hallowed hall of fame.
The goals themselves were classic Real Madrid #7.
The first came off a remarkable Jude Bellingham pass, the Englishman twisting away from Frenkie De Jong and Anders Christensen, finding space where there looked to none and picking out a ball in behind that Vinicius read far before Jules Kounde. Perhaps it was because Kounde thought a pass from there was rather impossible, but Vinicius' instant reaction underlined the ever-growing chemistry between Madrid's two most important attacking forces. Once Vinicius had the spring on Kounde it was only a matter of what finish would he choose against Inaki Pena in the Barca goal. For this one he chose something another Real Madrid great named Ronaldo would have loved, pushing it wide past the onrushing Pena and passing it into the empty net.
The second was all Dani Carvajal and Rodrygo: the fullback picking out the attacker with another lovely ball in behind, Barcelona's rather ridiculously managed high line exposed again inside the first ten minutes. Rodrygo raced down the right, played a superb ball across the face of the goal in between goalkeeper and defenders and Vinicius came sliding in to bundle it over the line.
The third came when Ronald Araujo was penalised pulling back Vinicius as he chased a teasing Aurelien Tchouameni cross into the box. He dusted himself off, and stroked the penalty into the bottom corner.
No longer a traditional winger, but not confined to the role of a centre-forward in Carlo Ancelotti's old-yet-new school 4-4-2 diamond formation, Vinicius thrived on Sunday -- as he has for quite a while now. Gone is the goal-shy dawdling decision maker, he's now the kind of #7 Real Madrid have almost always been spoilt with: goal hungry, big-game trophy-defining monsters. That was underlined yet again as he put an out-of-sorts Barcelona to the sword, the Cup winner beating the league winner to the Supercopa.
In between the second and third Vinicius goals came the best goal of the match - and absolutely stunning volley from Robert Lewandowski -- but that would serve as a mere footnote. Especially after Rodrygo made it four in the second half to put the cherry on top of the Vinicius-baked cake. So, as he paid tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo while outdoing him, Vinicius Jr's hat trick is ESPN India's European football moment of the week.