CTA Backs Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr. Red Card Under New Rules

Vinicius Jr.'s send-off against Villarreal keeps people talking. Now, Roberto Gomez has appeared on La Tribu to discuss the controversial play and offer new details on the Technical Committee of Referees' assessment of the refereeing performance and, clearly, the red card shown to the Brazilian after a hair pull on Nathan Saliba. The journalist assures that the CTA believes the refereeing decision on the Real Madrid player was correct.

"For the Technical Committee of Referees, the official's performance at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium between Real Madrid and Villarreal was a very good refereeing job. When I argued to this committee that, for me, it was a yellow, they acknowledged one thing to me: that it should have been a yellow for intensity and intention, but the regulations have been changed; all these actions have been grouped, and from this season on they are red cards," Gomez said.

The journalist insisted on the difference in how this play has been judged compared to previous seasons. "Until August, for intensity and intention, it should have been a yellow, but they have grouped this type of sanction. For the Technical Committee of Referees, the red is by the book." Finally, Gomez not only spoke about the refereeing controversy, but also mentioned his opinion on the sporting topic the merengues are living through.

"I did not like Vinicius' benching at all; for me, Vinicius is a guaranteed starter at Real Madrid. He misses the Clasico. Some will be celebrating it; I honestly am not," said the journalist who, in his view, the only problem the team coached by Jose Mourinho faces is the great level its big rival is showing.

"The only problem for Real Madrid, and it is also difficult to fix, is that Barcelona plays like angels and is sweeping everything. It had been a long time since we had seen such a big superiority from a team in the Spanish LaLiga as Barcelona's," he mentioned, but he also spoke about the prominence being given to Mourinho instead of criticizing the performance of certain footballers.

"The prominence Mourinho is having on the team is eclipsing, for example, Mbappe's performance in the match, which for me seemed almost irrelevant." Let's remember that the Frenchman had around four chances in front of the goalkeeper; however, he could not convert any of those situations, hitting three shots against Peter Gulacsi's body and another one off the post.