Vinícius Júnior
had something else to celebrate, apart from his goal in Thursday's match, a 2-0 win for
Real Madrid
over
Valencia
.
The Brazilian was saved from
serious injury
after a hard kick from his compatriot
Gabriel Paulista
in the second half, which ignited an altercation and earned the direct red card for team defender Che.
Vinícius had eluded his rival in the 72nd minute, when he took the blow that sent him to the grass.
Immediately, the Brazilian national team got up to face his rival, pushing him from behind, while other players joined the confrontation.
Emilio Butragueño
, director of institutional relations for Real Madrid, assured that "among all" they have to "protect" the Brazilian Vinicius Junior since "it is very positive for football to have players" like him.
"Between all, we have to take care of this type of player. Vinicius has spectacular conditions. It's very positive for football to have players like Vinicius; he's facetious, very fast... we have to protect him, among all of us," he commented on DAZN.
“You have to protect Vini a bit, who is a very explosive boy on the field, a boy who obviously does a lot of dribbling and a defender doesn't like it... but it's his technique and his way of playing.
I think that in many games they have kicked him a lot...
It's a kick without the ball, meaningless
, ”lamented Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Real Madrid defender Éder Militão, who had been replaced shortly before, also clashed with Paulista when he was leaving for the tunnel after being sent off.
“It has been an action resulting from
impotence
, his head has gone a bit, Gabriel has committed an act resulting from desperation, a mistake, for losing.
A red card that has left the team with one less.
It is true that we were already 2-0, after that it was impossible”.
said the orange coach Voro González.
Vinícius scored his goal after a long breakaway on a counterattack in the 54th minute, two minutes after Marco Asencio had given the hosts the lead with a shot from outside the area.
Just last week, a good part of the leaders of Spanish football had condemned an expression of hate against
Vinícius
.
A doll with the image of the Brazilian was hung from a bridge, before the Copa del Rey match against Atlético de Madrid.
Thursday's victory placed the
Merengue
team five points behind leader Barcelona, when half the campaign has gone.
The Catalan club won 2-1 the day before at Betis.
The two games were postponed in January, due to the participation of the two Spanish powers in the
Super Cup
that was played in Saudi Arabia.
Madrid beat Valencia in the semi-finals on penalties, before losing to Barça in the final.
Madrid, who had gone winless in two games in various competitions, lost two of their key players to injury.
Militão was replaced in the first half and the Frenchman
Karim Benzema
at the dawn of the second.
A visit to Mallorca on Sunday will mark Madrid's last game before traveling to Morocco for next week
's Club World Cup
, where it will seek to extend its record with an eighth title.
With information from Agencies
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