It is a costly ban, depriving Mourinho of one of his star attackers for an important run of league games that includes a Clasico clash with rivals Barcelona, who hold a six-point lead over Real at the summit of the table. The Brazil international was handed the punishment on Wednesday after being sent off during Saturday’s 1-0 La Liga win over Villarreal for pulling the hair of an opponent.
Jose Mourinho hit out at the “shameless” decision by Spanish football authorities to announce that Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior had been slapped with a four-match ban just hours before their Champions League clash with Roma kicked off.
But the Portuguese made his feelings clear about how the timing of the announcement had disrupted preparations in a post-match press conference. Vinicius started as Mourinho’s side pulled off an incredible late comeback to beat Roma 4-3 in the Champions League, having trailed 3-1 with seven minutes remaining.
Mourinho also highlighted his unhappiness with scheduling, with his side set to face AEK Athens in the Greek capital on 4 November, before travelling to Valencia in La Liga on 7 November.
Mourinho added: “They do things shamelessly now. The cat is out of the bag now. “A Spanish team that has earned three points for Spanish football, for the rankings, for the prestige of Spanish football.
Mourinho said: “Do you think it’s normal that a player from a Spanish team, who has to play a match that is also important for Spanish football, that two hours before the match a player knows he’s been given a four-match suspension?
Two hours before the match, a player must know he has a four-match suspension. You want to kill a player two hours before the match; it doesn’t seem normal to me.”
