- Ball kicked at Vinicius Junior
- Brazilian appealed for opponent to be punished
- But he received yellow card instead
WHAT HAPPENED? The winger was frustrated by an incident in the 36th minute, when Girona defender Santiago Bueno aggressively kicked the ball off him while he was on the ground near the sideline. He felt it was a purposeful, unsportsmanlike act, and his subsequent dissent led to a yellow card, with Bueno unpunished.
After the game, Vinicius Junior quote-tweeted a comment about the sequence, writing: "đ Laliga đ "
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AND WHAT'S MORE: The moment brought to mind the 2022 World Cup scrap between Argentina and the Netherlands when Leandro Paredes booted the ball at the Dutch bench to provoke a melee, however this incident differed in that it happened entirely within the field of play.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Vinicius Junior has been an outspoken critic of La Liga throughout the past two seasons for what he sees as a lack of protection from racial abuse from opposing fans and aggressive fouls from rival players.
IN TWO PHOTOS:
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WHAT'S NEXT FOR VINICIUS JUNIOR? The winger was Real Madrid's top performer in an otherwise dismal defeat on Tuesday. He'll need to be at his best again on Saturday against Almeria.