Thibaut Courtois declared Vinicius Jr needs to be protected after he was on the receiving end of a horrendous challenge from Gabriel Paulista on Thursday.

The Brazilian defender kicked out at his compatriot, who had doubled Real Madrid's lead against Valencia to mark his 200th club appearance in style.

Los Blancos emerged 2-0 victors at Santiago Bernabeu to edge closer to leaders Barcelona, yet it was the challenge on Vinicius that left the biggest impression.

Courtois questioned why Vinicius was subject to such treatment, but praised the referee for taking the appropriate action.

"I don't know why he was kicked in that way, we need to protect him," he told LaLigaTV.

"He's a player who dribbles a lot, tries to go past defenders and defenders don't like it. It's the way he is as a player.

"We need him to be that way, we need him to be like that against defenders.

"He receives a lot of kicks and tonight I'm just happy the referee acted and had the bravery to give the red card. The ball is not there, there's no intent to get the ball.

"Even if it was one of us had made that challenge then I would have said yes, it has to be a red card."