Vinicius Junior sets unwanted Real Madrid record with Valencia sending off

Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior has suffered a torrid week, with the latest debacle against Valencia underpinning a tough few days for the Brazilian. 

After being unable to influence his sides, 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, Vinicius suffered an even worse fate at the weekend when Real Madrid lost again, this time in LaLiga to Valencia. 

The 22-year-old winger was unable to influence the game in a positive manner, and then reportedly suffered the dishonour of being racially abused by a section of the Valencia fans. 

Following the incident which caused the game to be halted momentarily, Vinicus then got sent off after engaging in fisticuffs with Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, with the Brazilian appearing to raise a hand to the Georgian’s face. 

As a result of the sending-off, Vinicus entered Real Madrid’s history books for the wrong reasons, becoming the youngest player to get sent off for Los Blancos in a LaLiga fixture in the 21st century. 

Vinicius, aged 22 years and 313 days, surpassed another of Real Madrid’s Brazilian contingent Robinho, who was 23 years and 101 days old when he was sent off in 2007, to become the youngest Madridista to be given his marching orders this century. 

Vinicius reacted to the entirety of the incident on Twitter, branding LaLiga a competition of racists for doing nothing to protect him from bullies in the stands, and has received a strong rebuttal from the league’s president Javier Tebas.