Vinicius banned four games, set to miss Clasico against Barcelona
Spain's football federation has banned the Real Madrid star for four league games after his red card against Villarreal. Real Madrid have little time to appeal.
Archive image · Photo: Fotografías Archimadrid.es / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
The disciplinary committee of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) has banned Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior for four LaLiga games. The Brazilian was sent off in the 73rd minute of the 1-0 win over Villarreal. According to El Debate, the ban comprises two games for pulling Nathan Saliba's hair, according to the match report while the ball was not in play, and two for protesting against referee Isidro Diaz de Mera. The committee rejected Real's objections to the match report.
If the ban stands, Vinicius will miss this weekend's game against Sevilla and the Clasico against Barcelona on Oct. 25. He is not suspended in the Champions League. The decision was announced shortly before Wednesday's game in Rome. Coach Jose Mourinho criticized the timing, asking whether the decision could not have been announced "now or tomorrow morning," according to AP.
According to Goal, Real's appeal to the federation's appeals committee had to be filed by 3 p.m. Thursday for a ruling before the Sevilla game. After that, the club could turn to Spain's state administrative court for sport.