The first pictures surfaced in late July through an Instagram post by his ex-girlfriend Virginia Fonseca at a gym opening in Brazil. A follow-up video from a friend caught the side profile clearly: a sharper, more defined jawline, and a full beard the Real Madrid winger had never worn before.
The technical explanation came from the clinic. Dermatologist Alessandro Alarcão supervised the treatment in Goiânia, in central Brazil, using injectable fillers to reshape the facial contour. It is not surgery in the traditional sense, though it has been reported as such almost everywhere. The procedure typically takes less than an hour.
Vinicius has said nothing. What made the story more than a piece of celebrity trivia was the feature he chose to change.
The chin that has been mocked for years
Since arriving at Real Madrid as a teenager, Vinicius has been the target of racist abuse that has focused, again and again, on his face. In September 2022 a group of Atlético Madrid supporters chanted “you are a monkey, Vinícius, you are a monkey” outside the Metropolitano before a derby. That same month Pedro Bravo, the head of Spain’s football agents’ association, went on the Spanish television show El Chiringuito and said the player should “stop playing the monkey” instead of dancing his goal celebrations.
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In January 2023 an effigy of Vinicius in a Real Madrid shirt was hung by the neck from a highway bridge near the club’s training ground on the morning of another derby. Four Atlético ultras were later charged over it.
Brazilian coverage of the chin procedure did not treat the connection as speculation. Reports linked his decision directly to the mockery his features have drawn in Spain, and the chin in particular has been picked apart on social media throughout this year’s World Cup.
A landmark hate-crime verdict
In May 2025, the Provincial Court of Valladolid convicted five fans of hate crimes for the racist abuse aimed at Vinicius during Real Madrid’s league win at the José Zorrilla Stadium on 30 December 2022. Each received a one-year suspended prison sentence, a three-year ban from stadiums hosting official competitions, and fines of between €1,080 and €1,620.
It was the first ruling in Spain to treat racist insults in a football stadium as a hate crime. La Liga called it “an unprecedented milestone in the fight against racism in sport in Spain.”
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Mourinho and a new preseason
Vinicius returns to a changed dressing room. Real Madrid appointed José Mourinho as head coach on 11 June on a three-year contract, and the Portuguese coach began preseason on 13 July. The winger scored four goals at the World Cup, including a brace against Scotland, before Brazil were eliminated 2-1 by Norway in the round of 16 on 5 July, an Erling Haaland double sending them to their earliest tournament exit since 1990.
Mourinho’s Madrid begin preseason work at Valdebebas without a public word from Vinicius on the procedure or the abuse behind it.
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