Real Madrid beat Villarreal 1-0 in La Liga on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the win was overshadowed by the dismissal of Vinicius Junior, who was sent off after a video review showed he had pulled the hair of Villarreal's Nathan Saliba. The result keeps Madrid six points behind league leaders Barcelona and moves them provisionally into third place.
The decisive goal came from Yan Diomande, the Ivorian winger who joined in the summer for a club-record 140 million euros ($157m). He produced a sharp low finish into the far corner after good work from Federico Valverde, scoring his first goal for the club. Coach Jose Mourinho had started Diomande ahead of Vinicius, who was on the bench after returning from international duty with Brazil in Australia and India.
Vinicius came on in the 52nd minute and thought he had doubled the lead after Jude Bellingham cut the ball back for him. But the referee, Isidro Diaz de Mera, was called to the pitch-side monitor by VAR, which showed Vinicius had pulled Saliba's hair in the build-up. The goal was ruled out and the Brazilian was shown a red card, 20 minutes after coming on. Madrid then had to defend the closing stages with ten men, and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made an acrobatic save to deny Carlos Romero.
Kylian Mbappe, fit to start after a knee problem picked up with France, was Madrid's most threatening player. He hit the post and was denied by Villarreal goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, but left without a goal. Some fans whistled the forward, apparently over a perceived lack of professionalism in recent weeks, while others applauded. There was also mild whistling at half-time over a drab first-half display, and El Pais noted that Mourinho's side are still not progressing despite the win.
Vinicius later apologised on social media, writing "sorry to the team and the fans." He now awaits a ruling from the disciplinary committee. Spanish Football Federation rules classify pulling an opponent's hair as violent conduct, and under Article 130 the punishment for such conduct without causing injury is a ban of one to three matches. Madrid's next three league games are against Sevilla, Barcelona and Racing Santander, so a ban of two or more matches would rule him out of El Clasico at Camp Nou on October 25.
Elsewhere, Barcelona, the reigning champions, beat Getafe 3-0, while Atletico Madrid, five points behind in second, edged Alaves 2-1.