Real Madrid forward Vinícius Jr has urged referees to offer more protection to attacking players, mentioning himself along with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Atlético Madrid’s Julián Álvarez as those he feels deserve better treatment on the pitch.
The Brazilian forward spoke out after receiving a four-match ban on Wednesday following his sending-off in Saturday’s 1-0 La Liga victory over Villarreal for pulling an opponent’s hair.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, the Brazilian said, “I think the punishment came at a bad time. They had the whole day to announce the decision, but I found out about it when I arrived at the stadium.
“The rule is new, and La Liga officials always come to explain the new amendments to us, but they did not explain this particular rule to us.”
He added, “I have never committed a violent act against another player. I get kicked a lot, and yet I feel that referees show me cards very easily.”
The 25-year-old also emphasized the need for referees to protect players capable of influencing matches, citing Yamal and Álvarez alongside himself.
“The fans have to boo me because I’m here to score goals against their teams, but I don’t understand the referees, because I’ve seen a statistic that says I get 500 fouls for five red cards, and I don’t know how many yellow cards, and the yellow cards are always for Vini.
“I don’t understand. We have to defend the players who do things differently, like Lamine at Barcelona or Julián at Atlético,” he said.
Speaking on his career at Real Madrid, Vinícius recalled joining the Spanish club at 18 and facing doubts about his ability to score goals.
“Remember, I arrived at 18 years old, and many people laughed at me. They said I can’t score, and then I had more than 100 goals for Madrid,” he said.
