Vinicius sent off for hair-pulling, Real Madrid cries conspiracy before Clasico

Real Madrid beat Villarreal 1-0 on Saturday evening at Santiago Bernabéu, but the night was entirely overshadowed by Vinicius Jr’s expulsion, sent off after VAR intervention for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair.

The Brazilian forward thought he had scored when video review revealed the prior foul. The referee showed a red card, annulling the goal immediately after. The decision conforms to regulations — the same sanction was handed out, minutes apart, to Athenea del Castillo during a Spain-United States women’s match, a player who also plays for Real Madrid — but it provoked an immediate and unanimous reaction from the club.

In a rare occurrence, José Mourinho did not hold his post-match press conference. According to Marca, the Portuguese manager explained privately that he did not wish to risk suspension before matches against Seville and FC Barcelona, fearing he could not contain his anger over the refereeing. No player presented themselves in the mixed zone. Only Aurélien Tchouaméni spoke, on the club’s internal channel: “In the end I don’t understand what’s happening with the referees, this red card, I don’t understand.”

This expulsion comes amid growing distrust between Real Madrid and Spanish refereeing authorities. During the match, the stands echoed with hostile chants — “Corruption at the Federation,” “Tebas, resign!” and “Negreira, keep pulling the strings!” — in reference to the affair involving the former head of Spanish referees and FC Barcelona. During the international break, Real Madrid had officially filed a complaint with UEFA for the European body to open an investigation into these alleged links.

New signing Yan Diomandé scored the winning goal, giving Real the three points despite being reduced to ten men. But it is the refereeing controversy that dominates minds in Madrid, two weeks before a Clasico against Barça that promises to be under extremely high tension.