Long held by Villarreal on the pitch at the Santiago Bernabéu during the 8th day of La Liga, Real Madrid was able to force the decision to win by the smallest of margins (1-0). Despite an attractive face and opportunities from Kylian Mbappé, José Mourinho’s men have long lacked sharpness in the last gesture against an established yellow submarine. We finally had to wait until the hour mark and a collective inspiration to see Federico Valverde serve Yan Diomandé. The most expensive recruit in the history of the club, the Ivorian striker perfectly adjusted the opposing goalkeeper with a cross strike to score his very first goal under the Merengue tunic and allow his team to come back to within a small point of Atlético de Madrid in the standings.
But the evening took on a totally surreal dimension for Vinícius Júnior, whose season continues to prove nightmarish. While Real thought they would make the break thanks to a dazzling counter orchestrated by Jude Bellingham and concluded by the Brazilian, the celebration was short-lived. VAR revealed an unacceptable action by the attacker at the very beginning of the action. When launching the counter-attack, the latter deliberately pulled Nathan Saliba’s hair to get rid of his marking. After viewing, the referee had no other choice than to cancel the goal for this preliminary foul and to send off the Brazilian directly, leaving his teammates at ten for the last quarter of an hour and provoking the black anger of the winger, who came close to irreparable if Rüdiger had not intervened between him and Isidoro Diaz de Mera, the evening referee.
Vinicius Jr could be absent for the Clasico!
This refereeing decision, coupled with the overall management of the match, immediately ignited the powder on the other side of the Pyrenees. For its part, the club’s official channel, Real Madrid TV (RMTV), did not mince its words against the refereeing body through a virulent outing: “ it’s just strange how and when VAR decides to intervene. Tonight the VAR intervenes to give Vini a red for the hair pulling, okay. But why didn’t VAR intervene when Kang-In Lee almost destroyed Fede Valverde’s ankle? Why didn’t VAR intervene when a player intentionally elbowed Huijsen in the face a few games ago? For what ? That’s the question, why? »
A total incomprehension shared even within the Madrid locker room, like the disillusioned reaction of Aurélien Tchouaméni at the final whistle: “ I don’t understand what’s going on with the referees and this red card. » Furious throughout the match at the refereeing decisions, José Mourinho even decided not to go to a press conference after the match as indicated by the Spanish media because he thinks he would have received a heavy suspension if he had spoken this evening. A climate of extreme tension which now surrounds the Casa Blanca, while a perilous trip to AS Roma in the Champions League looms this week. For Vinícius Júnior, the emotional lift is terrible after a complicated start to the season. While even José Mourinho came to celebrate his goal with him on the pitch, the 26-year-old Brazilian winger has a good chance of missing the Clasico in two weeks if the sanction against him is heavy…
