{"id":878034,"date":"2026-10-11T01:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T01:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878034\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T01:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T01:02:17","slug":"real-madrids-vinicius-junior-sent-off-for-hair-pulling-in-victory-over-villarreal-la-liga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878034\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid\u2019s Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior sent off for hair-pulling in victory over Villarreal | La Liga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yan Diomand\u00e9 earned Real Madrid a tight 1-0 victory over Villarreal to keep them six points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, even though winger Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior<\/a> was sent off for hair pulling.<\/p>\n

Vin\u00edcius, on as a substitute, scored but his goal was disallowed and then he was dismissed after a VAR review showed he had pulled the hair of Villarreal\u2019s Nathan Saliba.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s side battled through the final stages with 10 men, holding on to win and provisionally going third. But the red card left a bitter taste for Real, with Vin\u00edcius running the risk of a potential ban which could keep him out of El Cl\u00e1sico on 25 October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with the referees, with this red card, I don\u2019t understand,\u201d said the Madrid midfielder Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni. \u201cBut the most important thing is the victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 was fit to start the match for Madrid after suffering a knee problem playing for France during the international break. There were a smattering of whistles for the superstar forward, with some fans believing he has been unprofessional in recent weeks, but also applause from others.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9, a candidate for the Ballon d\u2019Or<\/a> trophy later this month, was Madrid\u2019s most threatening player in the first half, although he had little competition.<\/p>\n

Players react as the referee, Isidro D\u00edaz de Mera Escuderos, sends off Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior. Photograph: Denis Doyle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mourinho started with out-of-form Vin\u00edcius on the bench, following his trips to Australia and India with Brazil during the international break.<\/p>\n

Madrid improved defensively, giving Villarreal few chances of note, but struggled to build much in attack themselves in a drab opening half.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 struck the post from \u00c1lvaro Carreras\u2019s lay-off as Madrid pushed Villarreal back early on. Villarreal soon gained a foothold and restricted Madrid\u2019s opportunities, until Mbapp\u00e9 forced a good save from Peter Gulacsi.<\/p>\n

There was some more mild whistling for Madrid\u2019s display from their fans at half-time, but soon they were able to celebrate summer arrival Diomand\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s first goal for the club. The Ivorian winger, Madrid\u2019s record signing, produced a sharp low finish into the far corner after good work from Federico Valverde to play him in.<\/p>\n

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Yan Diomand\u00e9 scores the only goal of the game at the Bernab\u00e9u. Photograph: \u00d3scar del Pozo\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Vin\u00edcius thought he had doubled Madrid\u2019s lead after Jude Bellingham charged in down the left and cut the ball back for him. However the winger\u2019s joy turned to anger after the referee, Isidro D\u00edaz de Mera Escuderos, was called to watch Vin\u00edcius\u2019s hair pull on Saliba in the buildup by VAR and sent off the Brazilian, disallowing his goal.<\/p>\n

Madrid\u2019s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who had made a couple of smart saves earlier in the half, then produced an acrobatic stop to thwart Carlos Romero.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 was denied again by the Hungarian goalkeeper Gulasci as the forward left the Bernab\u00e9u frustrated in his hunt for goals, although his team were able to clinch three important points to stay on Barcelona\u2019s trail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yan Diomand\u00e9 earned Real Madrid a tight 1-0 victory over Villarreal to keep them six points behind La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-878034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}