Vinicius Jr swapped shirts with one of Jude Bellingham’s England colleagues at Wembley.
On Saturday, wonderkid Endrick netted his first international goal as Brazil claimed a 1-0 victory over England at Wembley.
The 17-year-old, who will join Real Madrid from Palmeiras this summer for £62million tapped in with eight minutes remaining after Jordan Pickford saved Vinicius’ one-on-one chance.
It was a strange affair, with England, who were missing 12 first-team regulars, coming up against a side with a new manager in charge and on their worst run of results in 22 years.
Nevertheless, the encounter did feature some world-class talent, with England’s Bellingham coming up against Real team-mates Vinicius and Rodrygo.
Bellingham and Vinicius have been Los Blancos’ talisman on the pitch this term, while they appear to have a good bond away from the field as well.
And England have released a video of the pair warmly greeting one another in the tunnel after the game and engaging in a shirt exchange.
Notably, when Bellingham asked Vinicius who the winger’s iconic No.7 Brazil shirt should go to, he emphatically replied: “Rice.”
While it is unclear whether the shirt swap had been agreed beforehand, Declan Rice has been one of Arsenal’s most consistent performers this season and continued that form into the March international against the five-time world champions on Saturday.
Elsewhere, England boss Gareth Southgate admitted he was pleased with the performance of his England side, despite the result.
Respect 🏴🇧🇷🤝 pic.twitter.com/wClTLGRy8C
— England (@England) March 24, 2024
He said: “I was pleased. Clearly we don’t like losing football matches but I thought there were a lot of very good individual performances from players who have hardly played for England. More regular players were very good. We had as many attempts on goal as they have and the difference was one moment.
“There were a couple of great quality passes [from Brazil]. You’re talking about players at the very highest level of the game. You’re going to have moments where your keeper has to make a save or defender block. We had those moments at the other end. If it finished a draw it would have been fair.
“We’re playing a top team. Chances are going to be limited. Perhaps we had the chances from set-pieces to capitalise on one of them. I was pleased with the players that went in. We need to find out about them. I thought Ollie did a good job. Didn’t get that clear chance on goal you might want. A lot of his work was very good.”
Featured Image Credit: England via X