Spanish football, as you would expect, is dominated by the storied and historic giants that are Barcelona and Real Madrid and with the reappointment of notoriously outspoken manager Jose Mourinho to the Santiago Bernabeu hot seat, Los Blancos were always going to feature even more prominently in the headlines in the 2026/27 La Liga campaign and Vinicius Jr is the latest to hit the news feeds.
The serial title winning 63 year old head coach has tasted success, and controversy, whereever he has travelled around the major European leagues and following his time at Barcelona’s as assistant to Sir Bobby Robson and the success he tasted at the Camp Nou, he still went on to enjoy a 71.91 percent win rate across all competitions during his first spell at Real as they lifted the La Liga title, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana, despite form and issues unravelling in his final campaign before parting ways with the side.
Mourinho’s return to Spain has inevitably reignited interest in La Liga betting markets, and for those looking to follow the action, a comprehensive list of online casinos in Ireland covers many of the major European football markets including La Liga fixtures. The former World Coach of the Year wasted no time at all in renewing a few rivalries on his return to Spain, and very true to form, referees, officials and the authorities have been front and centre of his targeting so far, and with confirmation of Vinicius Jr’s suspension and ban now in, that will be another perfect chance for Mourinho to spin the news to suit his own ends.
It has now been confirmed that the 26 year old, 57 capped Brazilian international striker, will now serve a four game ban for last weekend’s altercation with Nathan Saliba. As football followers the world over will know, in last Saturday’s 1-0 victory clash with Villarreal, he was shown a straight red card in the 72nd minute for pulling Saliba’s hair. His punishment for that offence has been confirmed as a four game ban, and it is now known that he will serve this suspension in upcoming matches against Sevilla (October 18), Barcelona (October 25), Racing Santander (November 1) and Valencia (November 7).
Naturally one game stands out in particular there, and that is exactly what the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ and the wider media have picked up on. Mourinho was also very quick to question and point out why the announcement of the ban was made just hours before his Real team – including Vinicius Jr – took to the pitch against former side As Roma in the Champions League. Mourinho would have reasonable grounding to suggest that the breaking of the news had a detrimental effect on the team, and the 26 year old himself, as rather surprisingly Mourinho had to motivate his charges to fightback from 3-1 behind in the second period of the game to take a rather thrilling 4-3 full time victory.
Only the most dyed in the wool would see a potential conspiracy here, but, simply asking why the announcement could not wait until after the game, maybe the following day, is not a controversial question and even if you acknowledge the game Mourinho is playing here, and the way he is using the news to protect and deflect from the players and their incredibly poor performance, he still has a perfectly valid point about the timing.
And Mourinho will attempt to hide a very valid point in his next outing to the press as well.