Vinícius wins over fans with 3 assists and a goal in Real Madrid's 6-1 rout of Monaco

MADRID (AP) — With three assists and a goal, Vinícius Júnior quieted the fans who had booed him again at the start of Real Madrid's 6-1 rout over Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Part of Santiago Bernabeu Stadium crowd jeered the Brazil forward nearly every time he touched the ball early on in the league-phase game in Madrid, but the boos dissipated as the match went on and were virtually gone by the time Vinícius scored his first Champions League goal of the season in the 63rd minute.

“The last few days had been very tough, not only for me but for my teammates as well,” Vinícius said. “It was especially complicated for me because of the boos, because of what was being said about me. I'm always under the spotlight and I don't want to be under the spotlight for what happens off the field, only for the things that I do on the field and for everything I've done for this club.”

Vinícius said the “demand is always high” at Real Madrid.

“Not always I'll be at my best technically, but I try to give my all for this jersey and for this club that has given me so much,” he said. “When we play at home we need the support of the fans so everything can go back to normal. We want to win and the fans also want to win, and if we are together we will win great things this season.”

The early boos were not nearly as loud as they were Saturday in Madrid’s 2-0 win over Levante in the Spanish league. Both times fans jeered when Vinícius’ name was announced in the starting lineup, but this time the game ended with fans on Vinícius’ side as he was chosen the man of the match.

Vinícius has been having a lackluster season and some fans viewed him as one of the reasons why coach Xabi Alonso was replaced last week.

Vinícius had spats with Alonso, a former Madrid and Spain great as a player who was replaced as a coach following a tumultuous eight-month stint. Vinícius was reportedly the main player not backing Alonso in the locker room.

Vinícius scored his goal on Tuesday with a well-placed strike after getting past a couple of defenders and hitting the upper corner. He did not go toward the fans to celebrate, and instead hugged his teammates near midfield and then ran toward the sideline to salute and hug new Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa.

“More than hugging me, he was hugging the Madrid fans,” Arbeloa said. “We are all very happy with this reconciliation between Vini and the fans. It's what we wanted. He needs the Bernabeu and the Bernabeu enjoyed Vini and will keep enjoying him.”

Vinícius has assists in goals by Kylian Mbappé in the 26th and Franco Mastantuono in the 51st. The Brazilian also assisted with a cross that led to an own-goal by Monaco defender Thilo Kehrer in the 55th.

“Vini, we are behind you,” read a banner held by a fan at the Bernabeu.

Mbappé scored in the fifth minute to put the hosts ahead. He hugged Vinícius after his second goal later in the first half — and again following the final whistle.

Mbappé and Arbeloa had come out defending Vinícius recently, with Mbappé saying the crowd shouldn't single out Vinícius as the one to blame for the team's struggles.

Many fans applauded a seventh-minute attempt by Vinícius, who just missed wide from inside the area. When he misplayed a ball in the 40th, some of the fans started to boo again but many more applauded in response.

There were no immediate jeers toward club president Florentino Pérez like it had happened against Levante.

Mbappé appeared to apologize to Monaco fans after scoring. He was a former Monaco player. Mbappé has 18 Champions League goals for Madrid, the most of any player in the first 20 appearances with the club, ahead of the 14 of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Jude Bellingham, who was also jeered by some fans on Saturday, scored Madrid's sixth goal in the 80th. The England player celebrated by making signs with his hands as if he was drinking. Spanish media reports had said during the week that some Madrid fans complained that Bellingham was spending too much time partying amid the team's struggles.

“A lot of people say a lot of things,” he said. “It was a bit of a joke back to the fans and to the people who say whatever they want.”

Bellingham said Vinícius needed that support from the fans.

“He is a player who thrives when he gets love,” he said. “You could see today, when the atmosphere changes towards him, he goes up leaps and bounds in his game.”

Vinícius came close to scoring again on a breakaway in second-half stoppage time.

Madrid had entered the match against Levante coming off a two-game losing streak that included a loss to Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia — which prompted Alonso's departure — and an embarrassing elimination against Albacete in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.

There was a moment of silence before the match in honor of the victims of the train crash that killed more than 40 people in southern Spain on Sunday.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham celebrates his side's sixth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior scores his side's fifth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates his side's fifth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates with head coach Álvaro Arbeloa his side's fifth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates his side's fifth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Levante in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with Vinicius Junior the opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Levante in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A new Tennessee law has eased up on two longstanding financial hurdles for people with felony sentences who want their voting rights back, including a unique requirement among states that they must have fully paid their child support costs.

The Republican-supermajority Legislature approved the Democratic-sponsored change, which now lets people prove they have complied for the last year with child support orders, such as payment plans. The legislation also unties the payment of all court costs from voting rights restoration.

Advocates for years have sought various changes to Tennessee’s voting rights restoration system at the statehouse and in court. They say loosening these two rules marks the biggest rollback of restrictions to voting rights restoration in decades.

“This is huge and this is history,” said Keeda Haynes, senior attorney for the advocacy group Free Hearts led by formerly incarcerated women like her.

Most Republicans voted for it and Democrats supported it unanimously. The law took effect immediately upon Republican Gov. Bill Lee's signature last week.

“I think people are at a point where they want to just remove the barriers out of the way and allow people to be fully functional members of society,” said Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a bill sponsor.

In 2023, the state decided gun rights were required to restore the right to vote, and shelved a paperwork process that didn't require going to court. Election officials said a court ruling made the changes necessary, though voting rights advocates said officials misinterpreted the order.

Last year, lawmakers untangled voting and gun rights. But voting rights advocates opposed some of the bill's other provisions, such as keeping the process in the courts, where costs can rack up if someone isn't ruled indigent.

Easing up on the financial requirements uncommonly split legislative Republicans. For instance, Senate Speaker Randy McNally voted against it, while House Speaker Cameron Sexton supported it, noting that people aren't getting forgiveness on making their payments.

“They need to continue paying that, and as long as they do, then there’s a possibility (to restore their voting rights)," Sexton said. "I really think that’s harder for people to argue against than maybe what something else was.”

Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett, who voted no, said in committee his vote would hinge on whether “there still can be an (child support) arrearage owed beyond that 12 months.”

For some, backed-up child support payments could reach hundreds or thousands of dollars, and court costs could be hundreds or thousands more, said Gicola Lane, Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote community partnership senior manager.

Advocates credited their narrowed focus, omitting goals such as automatic restoration of rights, no longer tying restitution payments to voting rights, or offering a path for certain people to restore their right who are permanently disenfranchised, including those convicted of voter fraud or most murder charges.

The bill passed the Senate last year and the House this year.

Lawmakers gave the child support requirement final passage in 2006 within an overhaul bill that also created a voting rights restoration process outside of court. Critics said the child support rule penalized impoverished parents.

Democrats were then narrowly hanging onto legislative leadership in both chambers. Republicans held a slim Senate majority but GOP defectors voted for a Democratic speaker.

Last year marked the dismissal of a five-year-old federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s voting-rights restoration system. Free Hearts and the Campaign Legal Center represented plaintiffs in the long-delayed case, which saw some election policy changes along the way.

Roughly 184,000 people have completed supervision for felonies and their offenses don't preclude them from restoring their voting rights, according to a plaintiffs expert’s 2023 estimate in the lawsuit. About one in 10 were estimated to have outstanding child support payments, and more than six in 10 owed court courts, restitution or both, the expert said.

Both Republican and Democratic-led states have eased the voting rights restoration process in recent years. Some states have added complexities.

In Florida, after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions, the Republican-controlled Legislature watered that down by requiring payment of fines, fees and court costs.

Voting rights are automatically restored upon release in nearly half of states. In 15 others, it occurs after parole, probation or a similar period and sometimes requires paying outstanding court costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Maine and Vermont, people with felonies keep their voting rights in prison, the NCSL says.

Ten other states including Tennessee require additional government action. Virginia ’s governor must intervene to restore voting rights of people convicted of felonies. In some states, including Tennessee, certain conviction types render someone ineligible.

However, Virginia lawmakers this year have passed a proposed state constitutional amendment to ask voters whether they want automatic voting rights restoration after someone is released from prison. Kentucky lawmakers have proposed a similar change for voters' consideration that would automatically restore voting rights after certain completed sentences, including probation.

FILE - The Tennessee Capitol is seen, Jan. 22, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)