Vinícius Breaks His Silence After Red Card: ‘Sorry to My Team’.. Then an Angry Message, as Mourinho Refuses to Speak

Just hours after the final whistle, the Brazilian star broke his silence with words of apology, but it was not the only message he posted that night: the second carried clear anger and a direct accusation.

At the same time, the coach refused to face the media for an unusual reason, while the stands at the Santiago Bernabéu chanted against the federation and the referees on one of the tensest nights of the season.

The player is Vinícius Júnior, who posted on Instagram after his red card in Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over Villarreal: “The joy continues… Sorry to my team and the fans”, combining a celebration of the win with an apology for leaving his side with ten men.

But according to Marca, Vinícius shortly afterwards reposted an image in his Instagram stories showing clips from different games in which he was fouled without opponents being punished, with the words: “And the one who gets the yellow and red card is always Vinícius.. what a shame.”

Vinícius had come off the bench in the second half and scored what looked like Madrid’s second goal, before referee Isidro Díaz de Mera ruled it out after a VAR review and sent him off with a straight red card for pulling the hair of Villarreal’s Nathan Saliba.

The referee’s report, published by Marca, says he was sent off in the 73rd minute “for pulling an opponent’s hair, with the ball in play, without the ball being in dispute between them”. In a section on other incidents, the referee added that the player “continued protesting my decision, shouting, heading towards where I was with an aggressive attitude, and had to be held back by his teammates”, noting that he could not make out any specific words.

The referees’ committee protocol classifies hair pulling as violent conduct, which usually carries a ban of more than one game. That means Vinícius is at risk of missing El Clásico against Barcelona on October 25, with Real Madrid playing only one league game before it, against Sevilla.

José Mourinho refused to attend the post-match press conference, and no Real Madrid player spoke either. According to Marca, the Portuguese coach chose silence for fear that his comments on the refereeing could lead to a ban, saying: “I’m not going to talk because I want to sit on the bench against Sevilla and Barcelona.”

Mourinho was furious with Díaz de Mera’s performance, having already left the Madrid derby against Atlético angry, while Bernabéu fans chanted “corruption in the federation” and “Tebas, leave now”, in an atmosphere the paper said had not been seen at the stadium for a long time.

The referee’s decisions did not stop with Vinícius: he also booked Mourinho and team delegate Chendo, sent off Real Madrid goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos, and sent off Villarreal delegate Xisco Nadal.