Vinicius banned for four La Liga matches after Villarreal red, to miss Camp Nou clásico

Vinicius has been handed a four-match La Liga ban for his dismissal against Villarreal, comprising two games for pulling Saliba’s hair and two for his aggressive protests, according to Superdeporte.

The Brazilian will miss Real Madrid’s next four league fixtures, including the clásico at the Camp Nou next Sunday. The decision can be appealed to the Appeals Committee and, ultimately, the Administrative Court of Sport.

He was a substitute in that match and was sent off in the 72nd minute, moments after scoring a goal that was set to be ruled out by VAR. Referee Isidro Díaz de Mera identified a hair pull on Villarreal’s Saliba in the build-up, then showed the red card. Vinicius reacted angrily, confronted the referee and had to be restrained by team-mates.

The Disciplinary Committee applied the minimum sanction for both offences and rejected Madrid’s claim that the hair pull was accidental. It also treated his remonstrations as a separate infringement rather than part of the initial dismissal.

If the ban is not reduced, Vinicius would not play in La Liga again until the weekend of 22 November, when Madrid host Celta. Besides the clásico, he will miss Sevilla at home and trips to Racing and Valencia.

After starting against Roma on Wednesday, his only eligible games in the next five weeks are in the Champions League, against Leipzig at the Bernabéu next Wednesday and AEK in Athens on four November.

Separately, Ibrahima Konaté’s yellow card from the Villarreal match has been rescinded due to a clear error with no contact. The committee also ordered a one-game partial closure of Vallecas after incidents against Athletic that forced the match’s definitive suspension.

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”