Vinicius slams double refereeing after disallowed Villarreal goal
At the Villarreal stadium, Vinicius celebrated a goal that the VAR cancelled minutes later, which led to his direct red card. The Brazilian forward, who had renewed his contract with Real Madrid last summer, expressed his frustration and asked forgiveness from his team and the fans.
The start of the play was marked by a hair‑pull on William Saliba, Villarreal defender, which ended in a goal for Real Madrid. Referee Díaz de Mera initially validated the score, but the VAR intervened and reversed the decision. The goal, which initially seemed to give the advantage to the Madrid side, was erased from the scoreboard in the 23rd minute.
The VAR intervention
After the review, the VAR called the official to warn him of the error and the referee cancelled the goal, issuing a direct red card to Vinicius. The measure complied with the regulations, although the player felt it added to a series of controversial decisions.
Díaz de Mera himself described the behaviour of the Brazilian: "After being sent off and still on the pitch, he continued to protest my decision, shouting, moving towards the area where I was with aggressive attitude, having to be restrained by teammates of his team, without being able to see any specific expression." According to his report, no disqualifying expression was observed that would justify a harsher sanction.
Vinicius challenges Díaz de Mera after a straight red at the Bernabeu
Vinicius denounces unequal treatment
Vinicius posted on his social media a brief apology: "The joy continues... Sorry to my team and the fans". Shortly after, he shared a message from a fan account that showed eight images of previous refereeing incidents, such as the action of Balliu against Rayo Vallecano or the tackle of Maffeo in Mallorca.
The Brazilian forward had renewed his contract with Real Madrid last summer after a long saga, but still has not established himself as a starter. In the match against Villarreal he was substituted and handed his place to Diomande, who scored the winning goal. The absence of Vinicius left Real Madrid without its offensive reference in the second half.
Following the sending off, Vinicius faces a possible sanction of two to three matches, according to what Díaz de Mera recorded in the report. The lack of a clearly disqualifying expression could spare him a harsher penalty.