Jose Mourinho was seen seeming to tease Vinicius Jr, which seemed to upset him after the substitution.
Jose Mourinho was seen jokingly teasing Vinicius Junior right before he was taken off in Real Madrid’s exciting 4-3 win over Roma in the Champions League. Real came back from being 3-1 down at Stadio Olimpico after Carlos Espi, Endrick, and Antonio Rudiger all scored in the last eight minutes of regular time.
The game was 1-1 at halftime, but Roma quickly scored two goals early in the second half thanks to Donyell Malen. Mourinho made the unusual move of subbing Vinicius just a minute after Malen’s second goal at the 57th minute.
Before Roma’s second goal, Vinicius lost the ball while trying to flick a pass from the goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, behind him. He didn’t connect well with the ball and gave it away in his own half, leading to Roma’s quick counterattack and Malen’s first goal.
On the sidelines, Mourinho appeared to tease Vinicius by raising his heel in a flicking motion, as if wondering what Vinicius was trying to do. Vinicius was taken off at the 59th minute, and Endrick came on to play a big part in Real’s comeback, later winning UEFA’s Player of the Match award.
Earlier that day, before the game in Rome, La Liga announced that Vinicius would miss the next four domestic matches after pulling an opponent’s hair in Real’s win over Villarreal. Real had hoped he would only be banned for two or three games, which would have meant missing the upcoming El Clasico against Barcelona. But now Vinicius will miss two more matches after that and won’t play again in the league until after the November international break, when Real faces Celta Vigo.
Mourinho wasn’t happy with the timing of the suspension news, especially so close to the match in Rome. He said about Vinicius’s mistake that led to the goal, “Vini lost a ball he shouldn’t have lost. But that’s part of the game. I make mistakes, too. It’s too bad it happened just as he was getting back to feeling good and confident.”
Vinicius told the media, “Of course I’m upset when I’m taken off because I always want to play every minute and help the team, and today I couldn’t. But in the end, the substitutions helped us. Endrick came on and played great. He changed the game and scored. He was the best player in the second half. And Carlos, who often comes on for a short time, is also helping a lot.”