Vinicius Jr sparks major controversy with social media activity hours after Real Madrid red card

Vinicius Junior has responded in telling fashion after he was sent off for pulling an opponent's hair during Real Madrid's 1-0 La Liga win over Villarreal.

Yan Diomande scored the only goal of the game for Real on 63 minutes, but Jose Mourinho's side were forced to protect their lead following Vinicius' straight red card.

The Brazilian thought he had scored Real's second goal on 72 minutes, but VAR spotted that he had pulled the hair of Villarreal's Nathan Saliba in the build-up and the goal was rescinded, with a red card awarded to Vinicius. The 26-year-old has reportedly since apologised to his team-mates for the incident - but his social media activity could land him in some hot water.

'What a disgrace...' - Vinicius' social media activity sums up red card feelings

Vinicius also apologised to fans on social media for his red card - though a re-post to his story appears to question other decisions against him this season.

On his Instagram page, he re-posted a post from a Vinicius Jr fan page - which has over 500,000 followers - that features a series of fouls on Vinicius from other players during the 2026/27 season that did not result in red cards.

The post is captioned: "And the one who gets the yellow and red is Vinicius, what a disgrace." Vinicius commented on the post with three laughing emojis.

While the Brazilian is clearly not questioning the decision to give him a red card, his apparent criticism of refereeing decisions towards other players compared to him will no doubt spark huge debate.

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Jose Mourinho skips post-match press conference

According to Spanish outlet MARCA, Real manager Jose Mourinho refused to appear at the post-match press conference - for a reason most fans can probably guess.

It is claimed that Mourinho did not want to speak to the media due to his fury towards the refereeing of Isidro Diaz de Mera Escuderos, allegedly stating that he 'want[s] to be on the bench against Sevilla and Barcelona' in Real's upcoming matches.

Once again, no Real player conducted press duties either, meaning there was no post-match reaction in the press room from anybody connected with Los Blancos after the 1-0 win.

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Midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, though, did speak to Real Madrid TV over the Vinicius sending off.

"I don't know what's going on with the referees," he said. "With this red card, I don't understand. The most important thing is the victory."

For Diomande, his winning strike was the Ivorian's first competitive goal for Real after his club-record €125 million move from RB Leipzig last summer.

He may have to play an even more crucial rule when the next instalment of El Clasico takes place later in October. Vinicius is currently set to miss the upcoming La Liga fixture against Sevilla, but that ban could be extended to as high as three games for violent conduct should La Liga deem it necessary - which would rule him out of the away fixture against Barcelona on October 25.