Bad news for Vinicius and Real Madrid. The Brazilian forward received a yellow card in the match against Salzburg for what the Swedish referee, Nyberg, deemed to be simulation.

This card marks his third in the Champions League, meaning he will miss the final group stage match against Brest.

The incident occurred when Vinicius entered the Austrian team’s penalty area. Bidstrup blocked his advance, and Vinicius went down, appealing for a penalty.

When will Vinicius Jr return from his suspension?

The referee judged it to be a dive and booked him. This is Vinicius’s third yellow card in the competition, following previous bookings against Milan, for gesturing at the referee, and Dortmund, also for simulation.

This suspension comes at a bad time, as Vinicius is already serving a domestic league suspension due to an incident with Dimitrievski, which resulted in a two-match ban (he served the first against Las Palmas).

Consequently, he will miss the next two games: Real Valladolid in LaLiga and Brest in the Champions League. He won’t be available again until February 1, for the league match against Espanyol.

Vinicius Jr’s name has been in the media in both Spain and the Middle East amid increased Saudi interest in the player, who seem keen on bringing him to the league from the 15-time European champions.