Vinícius Júnior’s pointed remark claiming to have never before seen a player receive a four-game ban for pulling an opponent’s hair misses the point. Only half of his suspension was a result of his unwise tug.
Real Madrid’s misfiring forward endured another unwanted moment in the spotlight over the weekend when he was sent off for grabbing the hair of Villarreal defender Nathan Saliba. This constitutes violent conduct—and has done for years—and the fact it was away from the ball necessitated an automatic two-match ban.
However, the authorities in Spain sidelined Vinícius Jr for four matches; two for the hair pull and another pair for his reaction to the red card. The Brazilian forward had to be restrained by his teammate Antonio Rüdiger after making a beeline for referee Isidro Díaz de Mera following a VAR review.
“I don’t remember any player ever getting a four-game suspension,” Vinícius Jr scoffed after another underwhelming performance against Roma in midweek. “I tried to get past the player in front of me and ended up grabbing his hair.
“The rule is new. The CTA [Spain’s governing body of referees] always comes to Valdebebas [Madrid’s training ground] to explain things to us, and they’ve never said anything about this—they’re changing the rules. That’s it—a red card. That’s why I was so surprised, but I didn’t say a single bad word to the referee to deserve a four-game suspension.”
La Liga Matches Vinicius Jr Will Miss for Real Madrid
- Sunday, Oct. 18: Sevilla (H)
- Sunday, Oct. 25: Barcelona (A)
- Sunday, Nov. 1: Racing Santander (A)
- Saturday, Nov. 7: Valencia (A)
Vinicius Jr Uses Lamine Yamal in His Argument
It’s hard to grasp quite how Vinícius Jr can defend himself given the damning evidence in front of him; he is caught in 4K with a fist full of Saliba’s curls and was quite clearly unhappy with the decision. As the referee’s report fairly outlined, the winger “continued to protest my decision loudly, approaching the area where I was standing with an aggressive attitude.”
Nevertheless, Vinícius Jr can be excused some frustration given how often he is the subject of grappling without any severe consequence. “With Vini, everything’s very easy because the other team’s fans are going to say it’s O.K.,” he argued, in the third person. “The press is going to say it’s O.K., too. I understand that. I’m here to keep growing and improving because I know where I came from and how far I can go.”
“The opposing fans have to boo me because I’m here to score goals against their team,” the divisive figure accepted. “But I don’t understand the referees. I saw a statistic: I’ve been fouled 500 times, resulting in five red cards, and over 500 fouls against me have led to I don’t know how many yellow cards. In the end, the yellow cards always go to Vini, to the forwards.
“We have to defend players who do things differently in soccer, like Lamine [Yamal] at Barcelona or Julián [Alvarez] at Atléti. The defenders have every right to tackle me the whole game, and in the end, I’m the one who gets the card.”
Jose Mourinho: The Cat Is Running Wild
Despite hooking Vinícius Jr before the hour mark after berating his forward for losing the ball cheaply in the buildup to Roma’s second goal, José Mourinho came to his player’s defense concerning the announcement of the suspension.
“May I ask you a question?” Mourinho interjected during his postmatch press conference on Wednesday. “Is it normal for a player to find out two hours before the game that he’s been suspended for four matches? You don’t have to answer me. Is it normal? Couldn’t they have announced it now, or tomorrow morning? Did they have to do it while we were on our way to the stadium?”
In the eyes of the Portuguese coach, this was simply another example of the grand conspiracy against Madrid, the club’s players and Mourinho himself. The beleaguered manager claimed that these shadowy powers weren’t even bothering to hide their influence any more.
“In Portuguese, they say: ‘A cat hiding with its tail sticking out.’ It seems to me that now the cat isn’t hidden anymore,” Mourinho whimsically claimed. “The cat’s running wild; things are being done without any shame. It’s running wild.
“Two hours before a game, a player from a Spanish team that has earned three points for the prestige of Spanish soccer—that doesn’t seem normal to me. But now it does seem normal, because the cat isn’t hidden anymore.”
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