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Vinícius Júnior's sharp comment claiming he had never seen a player receive a four-match ban for pulling an opponent's hair overlooks the full picture. Only half of his suspension stemmed from that ill-advised tug.
Real Madrid's struggling forward found himself in the unwanted spotlight again over the weekend when he was dismissed for grabbing the hair of Villarreal defender Nathan Saliba. This constitutes violent conduct—as it has for many years—and the fact it occurred away from the ball triggered an automatic two-match suspension.
However, Spanish football authorities handed Vinícius Jr a four-match ban in total; two for the hair-pulling incident and two more for his reaction to the red card. The Brazilian winger had to be held back by teammate Antonio Rüdiger after charging toward referee Isidro Díaz de Mera following a VAR review.
"I don't recall any player ever receiving a four-game ban," Vinícius Jr said dismissively after yet another disappointing display against Roma midweek. "I was trying to get past the player in front of me and ended up grabbing his hair.
"The rule is new. The CTA [Spain's refereeing authority] regularly visits Valdebebas [Madrid's training facility] to brief us, and they've never mentioned this—they're changing the rules. That's it—a red card. That's why I was so shocked, but I didn't say a single offensive word to the referee to deserve a four-game ban."
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It's difficult to understand how Vinícius Jr can mount a defense given the overwhelming evidence against him; he is caught clearly on camera with a handful of Saliba's hair and was visibly furious with the decision. As the referee's report accurately noted, the winger "continued to loudly protest my decision, approaching the area where I was standing with an aggressive attitude."
That said, Vinícius Jr can be forgiven some frustration given how frequently he is on the receiving end of physical challenges without serious consequences for opponents. "With Vini, everything's very easy because the opposing fans are going to say it's fine," he argued, referring to himself in the third person. "The press is going to say it's fine, too. I understand that. I'm here to keep growing and improving because I know where I came from and how far I can go."
"The opposing fans have to boo me because I'm here to score goals against their team," the polarizing forward acknowledged. "But I don't understand the referees. I saw a statistic: I've been fouled 500 times, resulting in five red cards, and over 500 fouls against me have led to I don't know how many yellow cards. In the end, the yellow cards always go to Vini, to the forwards.
"We need to protect players who do things differently in football, like Lamine [Yamal] at Barcelona or Julián [Alvarez] at Atléti. Defenders have every right to foul me throughout the game, and in the end, I'm the one who gets the card."
Jose Mourinho: The Cat Is Running Wild
Despite substituting Vinícius Jr before the hour mark after criticizing his forward for carelessly losing possession in the buildup to Roma's second goal, José Mourinho came to his player's defense regarding the suspension announcement.
"May I ask you something?" Mourinho interjected during his post-match press conference on Wednesday. "Is it normal for a player to learn just two hours before kickoff that he's been handed a four-match ban? You don't need to answer. Is that normal? Couldn't they have announced it afterward, or the following morning? Did it have to come while we were already on our way to the stadium?"
In the Portuguese coach's view, this was simply another instance of the broader conspiracy targeting Madrid, its players, and Mourinho himself. The embattled manager suggested these mysterious forces were no longer even attempting to conceal their influence.
"In Portuguese, they say: 'A cat hiding with its tail sticking out.' It seems to me that now the cat isn't hidden anymore," Mourinho remarked colorfully. "The cat's running wild; things are being done without any shame. It's running wild.
"Two hours before a match, a player from a Spanish club that has brought prestige to Spanish football—that doesn't seem normal to me. But now it does seem normal, because the cat isn't hidden anymore."