Vinicius Jr to miss Barcelona game because of ban

· BBC-Football

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr will miss El Clasico against Barcelona after being given a four-game ban.

The Brazil international was sent off for pulling Nathan Saliba's hair in Real's 1-0 win against Villarreal last Saturday.

His suspension means he will miss games against Sevilla (18 October), Barcelona (25 October), Racing Santander (1 November) and Valencia (7 November).

Vinicius Jr came on after 52 minutes against Villarreal and thought he had scored his side's second goal.

However, the referee reviewed the build-up on the pitchside monitor and, with Vinicius clearly being shown to have pulled Saliba's hair before scoring, sent him off and disallowed the goal.

The Spanish football federation's disciplinary committee suspended the winger for two games for "behaving violently ... (while) not being in a position to challenge for the ball" and a further two matches for "protests" to the officials.

Following the match, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho did not attend the post-match news conference.

Vinicius also later apologised when he posted a message on social media, saying he was "sorry to the team and the [Real Madrid] fans".

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