Vinicius Jr hit with four-match ban for hair pull and angry protests, to miss El Clasico

Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior has been banned for four league matches, including the “clasico” against Barcelona, after pulling the hair of an opponent in Saturday's 1-0 win over Villarreal.

Vinícius was shown a straight red card in the 73rd minute for having tugged hard on the hair of Villarreal’s Nathan Saliba when they were sprinting down the field, moments before the Madrid player scored a goal. The goal was also ruled out.

The Spanish soccer federation’s disciplinary committee announced the four-match suspension shortly before Madrid’s Champions League match at Roma on Wednesday. Madrid came from two goals down to snatch a 4-3 win in the Italian capital, and coach José Mourinho slammed the timing of the announcement afterwards.

“Do you think it’s normal for a player from a Spanish team, preparing for an important match that’s also crucial for Spanish soccer, to find out about his four-match suspension just two hours before kickoff?" Mourinho said.

“Couldn’t they have announced the decision now or tomorrow morning? We were on the bus about to arrive at the stadium when we found out. … They’ve started doing things without any shame.”

Real Madrid was expected to appeal the suspension. Spanish media said an initial appeal had already been dismissed.

The committee said Vinícius was banned for two matches for the hair pulling and a further two matches for his subsequent aggressive protests to referee Isidro Díaz de Mera.

Vinícius screamed at Díaz de Mera while his teammates tried to calm him down as he left the field.

Díaz de Mera wrote in his match report that after being shown the red card Vinícius “protested my decision, raising his voice, toward where I was standing in an aggressive manner, and being held back by teammates.”

Vinícius will miss Sunday’s home match against Sevilla and the following week’s trip to Barcelona. He will also miss away matches at Racing Santander and Valencia.