Real Madrid’s growing concern over Vinicius’ treatment in LaLiga

Vinicius has been living between trouble and trouble for a while now. It is a scenario that, in addition to angering the player, is affecting his performance: it has definitely set off alarm bells in Chamartín, as club sources consulted by AS already acknowledge that there is “concern” regarding the matter.

The open acknowledgment of the situation is no longer taboo, as before the public statements had been grey, not fiery. “He must be protected”, it was pointed out, accompanied by a “he should only have to focus on football”. Small doses of a restlessness that, in recent weeks, have skyrocketed.

Vini is so visibly angry that he now reacts to the tiniest things (he has received the most cards in the entire team, with 10). For example, after getting booked following a challenge on De Jong, Vinicius exploded. It was too much, too excessive, pointing his finger at referee Munuera Montero‘s face and yelling at him just centimetres away (“Always the same! You! Always the same!”).

The red card was coming (in fact, for Iturralde González, AS’s refereeing analyst, thought he should have been sent off). The feeling at Real Madrid is starting to resemble a constant déjà vu: controversy again and again, with Vinicius in the middle. Whether it’s his fault or not, trouble always finds him. That is why the decision involves one’s own work: correcting what, at least, is in one’s own hands.

Sorting out what is in your own hands is avoiding, for example, reactions like those of the Clásico, gestures to the stands. That is what the club is going to focus on, getting the footballer to develop a shell thick enough so that, even in the face of the worst provocations, he is capable of remaining impassive, concentrating on the game: a doctorate in cold blood.

The club understand that this is not an easy task, especially for a 22-year-old boy, but it is what can be done: reduce to zero any threat of adding fuel to the fire. “In the end, people take a fancy to provoking you,” said Pepe Reina, the protagonist of one of the latest incidents that have involved the Brazilian.

Vinicius’ most recent games for Madrid

The tsunami of 2023

Before the World Cup, the stoves were already hot, but since then they have set on fire. As soon as he returned from the Super Cup, Vinicius had an angry moment with Reina during the game. The goalkeeper, then a substitute, said something to him from the bench and Vini retailated. Ancelotti, at the same time, begged him to stop: “Play, play”. But it didn’t matter, he did not hold back. The coach repeated exactly the same words just days later, during the league visit to San Mamés. Vinicius, angry after receiving six fouls and being the focus of the chants, made a gesture to the stands. Two games, two yellows, and Carletto wasn’t happy.

The manager became even less content when shortly afterwards, in the Cup game against Atlético. It was a game marked by that deplorable effigy that, according to the Police investigation, was hung from a bridge by six members of Atlético’s Ultras group. “Love will always defeat hate”, Vinicius wrote on his social media pages, perhaps trying to calm the waters that were now impossible to control. In the next game he was taken down brutally by Gabriel Paulista in a straight-red card offence.

Things are not getting better for Vinicius

Since then, the matter has only escalated. What followed was probably the most serious: racist insults from Son Moix (the person responsible, a 20-year-old season ticket holder, has already been identified), a match in which he received ten fouls (a record). In Pamplona the game hadn’t even started and he was already receiving insults: during the minute of silence.

Shortly after, it was he who exploded: he launched into a challenge with Moi Gómez and, most importantly, he appeared to address Munuera Montero in inadmissible terms. In these two games he was also booked. And from there, to the most recent, the nearly-red card in the Clásico for protesting. Every controversy that exists manages to find Vinicius, it has become routine. And it is already worrying Madrid.