Arsenal summer transfer target Vinicius Junior was involved in a bizarre moment on Saturday, going from believing he’d scored to being sent off.
Vinicius Junior was the centre of a summer of speculation about a potential transfer to Arsenal, but he ended up signing a contract extension with Real Madrid.
The saga has ramped up the attention on the winger, and it’s fair to say he hasn’t necessarily shone so far this season.
The 26-year-old has just one goal in nine games, and after playing more than 80 minutes in each of his first six matches, manager Jose Mourinho subbed him off in the 68th minute against Elche, then the 54th minute against Atletico, before dropping him to the bench this weekend against Villarreal.
Vinicius likely felt he had a point to prove when he came on in the 52nd minute, and it briefly appeared as though he had his big moment.
With Real Madrid 1-0 up, Vinicius arrived late in the penalty area and guided home a Jude Bellingham cutback to seemingly double his team’s advantage. Mourinho raced the length of the pitch to congratulate the forward.
Yet a VAR check showed that in the build-up to the goal, Vinicius had pulled Nathan Saliba back by his hair. Not only was the goal disallowed, but the Real Madrid winger was sent off. You can watch the full incident in La Liga’s highlight package here.
To make matters worse, the referee also mentioned Vinicius’ furious reaction to the decision in his post-match report. Though the length of the player’s ban hasn’t yet been finalised, he could miss additional matches on top of his initial one-to-three-match ban for the foul.
If Vinicius is banned for just two matches, which seems very likely at this stage, he’ll miss Real Madrid’s trip to Barcelona on October 25th. So the Brazil international has gone from believing he’d kickstarted his season to putting his La Liga campaign on hold.
The one positive for the player is the return of the Champions League, as his domestic ban won’t affect his involvement in Europe.
Real Madrid travel away to AS Roma on Wednesday, then face RB Leipzig at home the following week, and Vinicius will be available for both of those games.
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