Scandal before kickoff! Mourinho asks an uncomfortable question
José Mourinho has thrown more fuel onto Real Madrid's growing refereeing controversy.
Details: The Portuguese coach reacted sharply to the timing of the announcement confirming Vinicius Junior's four-match LaLiga suspension. The decision was made public shortly before Real Madrid's important Champions League meeting with Roma, despite the punishment applying only to domestic competition.
Mourinho openly questioned why the information had to be released at that particular moment:
“Ask Spanish Refereeing Committee why they published the news about Vini's ban minutes before he plays an important UCL game… Real Madrid is a Spanish club, so why publish it now?”
Vinicius received the punishment following his red card in Real Madrid's 1-0 LaLiga victory over Villarreal. The Brazilian was dismissed after VAR detected that he had pulled Nathan Saliba's hair during the move that initially ended with a Vinicius goal. The strike was disallowed, while the winger was shown a straight red card.
The RFEF disciplinary decision handed Vinicius four matches in total: two for the incident itself and another two connected to his subsequent protests. As a result, he is set to miss the league matches against Sevilla, Barcelona, Racing Santander and Valencia, including El Clásico on October 25.
It is worth noting that the suspension applies to LaLiga and does not prevent Vinicius from featuring in European competition, meaning the Brazilian remains available to Mourinho for the Champions League match against Roma.
Reminder: What really happened? Referee and VAR conversation behind Vinicius' red card revealed
Steven Perez
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