Vinicius Jr & Kyle Walker share wholesome moment after Real Madrid 1-1 Man City | OneFootball

There are not many wingers in the world who can hold a candle to Vinicius Junior at the moment, with the 22-year-old excelling in attack for Real Madrid.

Nor can many right-backs deal with the Brazilian. But after Manchester City drew 1-1 with the reigning Champions League holders in the first leg of their semi-final, there was a show of respect between Vini and Kyle Walker, his opponent for the night.

The Los Blancos attacker has feasted against English right-backs in the past two rounds of the tournament, with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Chelsea’s Reece James falling by the wayside.

Having made light work of that previous opposition, part of Vinicius will have been chomping at the bit to have a battle with 32-year-old Walker.

And for large parts of the game, the Real man was sensational.

He took centre stage last night once again, opening the scoring with a sensational strike from outside the box.

Although Madrid started poorly, they grew in confidence as the game went on, as did Vini Jr, whose technical ability and explosive speed made him a constant threat to Man City.

But one man showed an ability to deal with the attacker’s presence most of the night, that man being right-back Walker.

Defensively superb, Walker snuffed out pretty much any danger that came his way.

He made dispossessing one of the best attackers in Europe look easy with well-timed challenges inside and outside the box.

At one point Vinicius tried to get past him with an audacious rainbow flick, but Walker held his ground and was not fooled by the Brazilian’s dancing feet.

When attackers like Neymar have tried that with defenders in the past, some players have lost their heads with the opposition for a lack of respect.

But not Walker, who remained cool and composed for the whole 90 minutes.

On the night, nobody in a City shirt won more duels, made more tackles, or made more clearances than Walker.

And to highlight his superiority against Vinicius and Madrid’s other attackers, nobody managed to dribble past him either.

A fantastic defensive display in all areas.

And after the game, both men paid tribute to each other’s performances, even though Vinicius had tried to mug Walker off during the game with a cheeky bit of skill.

As Vinicius swaps with goalkeeper and compatriot Ederson, he can be seen gesturing at Walker, who has a big smile on his face.

The pair share a high-five and an embrace, with more words exchanged after.

One Twitter user pointed out that they called each other's performances "crazy," as both men left the Bernabeu full of respect for the other.

The pair won't have to wait long to pit their wits against one another again as the decisive second-leg of the semi-final takes place next Wednesday evening at the Etihad Stadium.