Vinicius hinted at red card at half-time during Real Madrid-Valencia clash

Real Madrid are set to be without Vinicius Junior during the Spanish Supercup unless Los Blancos are successful in their appeal, after he received a third red card of his career. After Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski leaned over him and told him to get up, Vinicius did so and pushed him in the face.

The Brazilian was sent off previously at Mestalla too, two seasons ago following detestable racial abuse from the stands. Vinicius received no shortage of insults on Friday night, report Marca, although none of them racial, and the crowd chanted ‘idiot’ and ‘beach ball’ at him on several occasions, leading to Vinicius holding up two fingers to the crowd – not to flip the bird, but rather tell the Valencia fans they were on their way to Segunda.

However during the second half his protests against the referee grew, and Vinicius’ fuse became shorter and shorter until his sending off. After the red card was flashed, he was held back by Antonio Rudiger and a staff member, who were quickly on the scene to prevent him from going for the referee. The reason being is they knew it could happen – Vinicius had said at half-time ‘I’m overwhelmed, there’s a lot of tension’.

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After the match, manager Carlo Ancelotti defended him, and noted that he believed it to be a yellow card rather than a red. He would then say on Sunday that it was difficult to be in Vinicius’ position, and that he is trying to and has improved his behaviour, which is what the dressing room believe too. Marca note that the one major change in Vinicius is that for the first time, Vinicius has shown signs of exhaustion with the climate in which he plays, rather than a desire to fight.

This is a change of tune from previous reporting from the local press, who have previously noted that Vinicius in some cases even seeks out the confrontation to fire himself up, and then uses it as fuel for his motivation. It does not seem unrelated that all of the major outlets in the Spanish football press have run stories in the last seven months that the ‘atmosphere’ surrounding him in La Liga could lead to him abandoning it to play in Saudi Arabia, with the regime there keen to break the bank to bring in the player who for many is the best in the world.