Jose Mourinho hit out at the “shameless” decision by Spanish football authorities to announce that Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior had been slapped with a four-match ban just hours before their Champions League clash with Roma kicked off. The Brazil international was handed the punishment on Wednesday after being sent off during Saturday’s 1-0 La Liga win over Villarreal for pulling the hair of an opponent.
It is a costly ban, depriving Mourinho of one of his star attackers for an important run of league games that includes a Clasico clash with rivals Barcelona, who hold a six-point lead over Real at the summit of the table. Vinicius started as Mourinho’s side pulled off an incredible late comeback to beat Roma 4-3 in the Champions League, having trailed 3-1 with seven minutes remaining.
But the Portuguese made his feelings clear about how the timing of the announcement had disrupted preparations in a post-match press conference. Mourinho said: “Do you think it’s normal that a player from a Spanish team, who has to play a match that is also important for Spanish football, that two hours before the match a player knows he’s been given a four-match suspension? “Couldn’t they do it now?
Couldn’t they do it tomorrow morning? Do we have to come by bus and almost arrive at the stadium when we find out Vinicius has a four-match suspension?” Mourinho added: “They do things shamelessly now. The cat is out of the bag now. Two hours before the match, a player must know he has a four-match suspension.
“A Spanish team that has earned three points for Spanish football, for the rankings, for the prestige of Spanish football. You want to kill a player two hours before the match; it doesn’t seem normal to me.” – Scheduling complaints –