VINICIUS JUNIOR had to be forced down the tunnel by Antonio Rudiger after being sent off in angry scenes.
The Real Madrid forward, 24, lost his head during tonight’s LaLiga clash away at Valencia.
In an action-packed game, Vinicius’s fury boiled over with little more than ten minutes left as Real trailed 1-0.
Valencia’s goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski clearly said something to wind Vinicius up.
And the Brazilian responded by getting up off the turf and shoving Dimitrievski in the head.
The Valencia stopper tumbled to the floor and the referee took his time before brandishing the red card.
And that prompted another furious reaction from Vinicius as he seemingly looked set to go at the official, gesticulating angrily.
However, he was held back by team-mate Rudiger who clung on to the Ballon d’Or runner-up and ushered him down the tunnel to try and prevent him causing more trouble.
That prompted a wave of comments from fans on social media.
One said: “This is why Vinicius will never win a Ballon d’Or.”
Another wrote: “If not for Rudiger, Vinicius would have punched the referee. He behaves like that every game. People need to wake up, this guy is not a saint.”
A third added: “A LaLiga referee has finally stood up to the disgusting and unprofessional Vinicius Jr actions and sent him off.”
And a final user replied: “Vinicius dragged out of the pitch preventing him from potentially beating the referee to the ground.”
The red card was only part of the drama at the Mestalla in what was Carlos Corberan’s first game in charge of Valencia.
The former West Brom boss saw his new side take the lead on 27 minutes.
Then after the break, Kylian Mbappe had an equaliser ruled out by VAR while Jude Bellingham hit the post with a penalty.
The Englishman made amends, though.
He teed up Luka Modric to tuck home an 85th-minute equaliser and then capitalised on a defensive mistake to slot in a dramatic injury-time winner to send Real top of LaLiga.
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