“A ridiculous red card”, “a deserved expulsion”, “a violent gesture”, the Spanish press unanimously after Vinicius’ slip-up against Villareal

Real Madrid barely defeated Villareal (1-0) this Saturday evening for the 8th day of the La Liga championship. If the evening was illuminated at the hour mark by Yan Diomandé's first goal under the Madrid tunic (63rd), the match changed ten minutes later with a gesture from Vinicius as incomprehensible as it was controversial. The Brazilian, guilty of pulling Nathan Saliba's hair at the start of an action which saw him score the break goal after a great pass from Jude Bellingham (71st), was sent off. And the goal logically canceled. Cold shower. The day after this gesture, the Spanish press found no excuses for the Merengue.

“By the hairs” headlines Marca. Everything is said. “Hair pulling is a red card, period,” adds his deputy director Juan Ignacio Garcia-Ochoa. On Radio Marca, refereeing consultant Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes judges the expulsion of Vinicius “justified” and the goal “rightly refused”, sanctioning “a blatant hair pulling on Saliba and a violent gesture on the part of the Real Madrid striker”. “A far-fetched victory and a red card for Vinicius,” writes Mundo Deportivo in the header of its front page. Sport, for its part, is more moderate. “A dull victory marked by Vinicius’ ridiculous red card,” writes the Catalan sports daily.

Vinicius apologizes, then complains

After asking for “forgiveness from his team and the supporters”, the Real Madrid striker posted a mosaic of images of several screenshots of faults suffered by the and not punished, with the following caption: “and the one who always receives a yellow and a red is Vinicius, what a shame” with three “dead laughing” emojis. Vinicius, while awaiting his final sanction, could miss the Clasico against Barça at the Camp Nou, on October 25 (9 p.m.).