Referee’s report reveals more about Vinícius’ red card, Brazilian unlikely to play in El Clásico
The referee’s report from Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over Villarreal says Vinícius Júnior was sent off for pulling an opponent’s hair and then approached the official aggressively, shouting in protest. The incident could bring a ban of more than one game, which would rule him out of the Clásico against Barcelona on 25 October.
According to Marca, referee Díaz de Mera wrote that Vinícius received a straight red card in the 73rd minute for “pulling an opponent’s hair while play was in progress, with the ball not being contested between the two”. The incident happened during an attack that ended with the Brazilian scoring, but the goal was immediately disallowed because of the foul on Villarreal’s Nathan Dillon-Saliba.
In the section on additional incidents, the referee noted that Vinícius, after being sent off, continued to protest loudly and approached him aggressively, and had to be held back by his teammates, although no specific insults were heard.
Under the rules of the Technical Committee of Referees, hair-pulling is classed as violent conduct, a category that usually carries a ban of several matches. Real Madrid play only one more league game, against Sevilla, before visiting the Camp Nou, so a suspension of two or more matches would automatically rule the winger out of El Clásico. According to reports, Real Madrid have already accepted that Vinícius will not be available.
Tensions also ran high around both benches. José Mourinho and club delegate Chendo were booked, Real Madrid goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos was sent off, and a Villarreal club delegate was also shown a red card.
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