"Shameful": after Marcelo and Gavi, Vinicius's sending-off exposes the double standards of Spain's referees
Vinicius Junior's dismissal against Villarreal yesterday in the eighth round of La Liga has sparked widespread debate over referee Isidro Diaz de Mera's decision, bringing back memories of an almost identical incident that went Real Madrid's way in the 2020-2021 season.
Real Madrid won the game 1-0 through Yan Diomande's goal, but the night threw up a refereeing rarity: the first time VAR has disallowed a goal and seen the scorer sent off in the same moment.
Near the halfway line, as the players chased back after the move that ended with a second Real Madrid goal scored by the Brazilian, Vinicius pulled the hair of Villarreal's Nathan Salibi. Then the whole scene flipped. Straight red.
Neither Real Madrid nor their supporters can defend what Vinicius did. The questions all centre on one thing: did the Brazilian deserve a straight red card?
Match referee's report: Vinicius and violent conduct
Mundo Deportivo has revealed the details of the referee's report from the match between Real Madrid and Villarreal regarding the Vinicius incident, writing that the Real Madrid player pulled Saliba's hair with no contest for the ball between them. Speculation is now swirling over how long the Real Madrid star will be suspended for.
De Mira had already given Vinicius the goal when the video technology officials flagged the incident, pointing him towards an offence that falls under the heading of "violent conduct".
6 years back: the Marcelo incident
The website okdiario said: "Vinicius's sending off brought to mind a similar incident involving Marcelo, but one that went unpunished at the time. In the match between Real Madrid and Alaves in November 2020, Laguardia pulled Marcelo's hair inside the Alaves penalty area, in an incident that warranted a penalty and a clear red card, yet the video technology did not intervene."
It explained: "Marcelo fell to the ground during a Real Madrid attack, while the referee allowed play to continue, amid protests from the Brazilian full-back, who could not believe what had happened. It was an incident that warranted a straight red card, the decision that was applied in similar incidents later on, as happened with Vinicius."
The same website commented: "Here the difference in standards becomes clear. There is no doubt the decision in Vinicius's case was correct, but the Marcelo incident was ignored at the time. Cordero Vega was the on-field referee, while Gonzalez Gonzalez handled the video technology."
That Real Madrid-Alaves tie, okdiario noted, fell during the coronavirus restrictions on crowds. Madrid lost it 1-2.
The newspaper AS published a video of the Marcelo incident, saying: "Real Madrid are recalling an old precedent: Marcelo's hair was pulled and no penalty was awarded despite the presence of VAR technology."
It continued: "After Vinicius's goal was disallowed, many Real Madrid fans recalled this incident involving the Brazilian player against Alaves in 2020."
Marcelo: What a disgrace
Clos Gomez, the man in charge of the VAR project in Spain, used a subsequent press conference reviewing video technology to explain that the footage showing the Marcelo incident never reached the referees during the match.
He said, according to what the El Espanol website reported: "All the cameras used in the television production are available to the VAR system, but there are exceptions, because sometimes there are cameras that do not have a link to transmit the image to the television production. That happened in the match, and during the interval a shot appeared that we did not have, and therefore it was not possible to analyse it."
Hair-pulling, Gomez added, is punished according to its force: "If it is slight, a foul is given and a caution is shown, but if it is more forceful then it warrants a red card, whether the ball is in play or not."
Velasco Carballo, president of the technical refereeing committee, backed him up. The camera that captured the shot sat outside the broadcast system feeding the VAR room during the game, and the production company only dug the image out and aired it later. Its absence from the video room, he insisted, had no bearing on the work done there.
Marcelo made his own case to the referee on the pitch. Movistar revealed the conversation at the time, and AS reported it: "He pulled my hair, man! He pulled my hair." The referee replied: "He only put his hands on you," then carried on running. Marcelo's verdict? "What a disgrace."
Gavi and Ceballos: another controversial incident with no cards!
Barcelona's 3-1 win over Real Madrid in the 2023 Spanish Super Cup final in Riyadh had one last flashpoint in the closing moments, and the referee let it pass without a decision.
Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea had just awarded Barcelona a free-kick. Gavi clung on to the ball to run the clock down, and Ceballos reacted by yanking the Barcelona teenager's hair hard from behind. Gavi shoved him away. Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde moved in to cool things down as Vinicius Junior piled into the argument.
A similar case: Mujica suspended
La Liga has already dealt with something close to the Vinicius incident. It came in matchweek 37 of last season, during Levante against Mallorca, and it involved hair-pulling. Mojica, then of Mallorca, grabbed the hair of Levante striker Brugui after the forward had gone to ground. Both men walked: the Colombian for the offence, Brugui for reacting with a slap.
Mojica was suspended for two matches for "violent conduct" against an opponent away from the play, meaning neither player was competing for the ball. That precedent may well hint at what awaits Vinicius.
The ban cost Mojica the end of last season. He then joined Getafe over the summer and sat out the opening game of this campaign against Deportivo Alaves.
