José Mourinho sharply condemned the decision by Spanish football authorities to announce a four-match suspension for Real's winger Vinícius Júnior just hours before the Champions League match against Roma.
The Brazilian player received the punishment on Wednesday after being sent off in a La Liga match on Saturday, where Real defeated Villarreal 1-0, for pulling an opponent's hair.
This ban is significant because it deprives Mourinho of one of his key forwards in an important run of championship matches, which includes a fixture against Barcelona, which leads Real by six points in the standings.
Despite Vinícius starting in Mourinho's team, which made an incredible comeback to beat Roma 4-3 in the Champions League after trailing 3-1 with seven minutes left, the Portuguese coach expressed dissatisfaction with how the timing of the announcement disrupted the team's preparation during the post-game press conference.
Mourinho stated: 'Do you think it's normal that a player from a Spanish team, who is supposed to play a match important for Spanish football, finds out about a four-match suspension only two hours before the match?' He continued: 'Could they not have done this now? Could they not have done this tomorrow morning? We have to travel by bus and almost arrive at the stadium to find out that Vinícius has a four-match ban?'
The coach added: 'Now they are doing things shamelessly.' He emphasized: 'The truth is out now. The player should know two hours before the match that he has a four-match suspension.' Mourinho noted that 'the Spanish team, which earned three points for Spanish football, for the ranking, for the prestige of Spanish football. You want to kill a player two hours before the match; I find that abnormal.'
Mourinho also expressed dissatisfaction with the schedule, as his team is due to play AEK Athens in the Greek capital on November 4th, and then travel to Valencia for a La Liga match on November 7th.
When asked about the significance of Vinícius's ban announcement, Mourinho replied: 'At least it is a lack of respect.' He criticized the schedule, noting: 'Playing in Athens on Wednesday evening, arriving in Madrid probably around 5 am, something like that, and then playing in Valencia on Saturday, on the weekend before the international break. It is completely senseless; they force you to play in Valencia on Saturday, which is an extremely difficult match. I don't find that innocent.'
He dismissed standard excuses: 'Standard excuses, I don't believe them, because this wasn't 25 years ago. Excuses from TV that television decided this, that television chose the Saturday match, I no longer believe. I am too old to swallow that.'
Regarding the Vinícius situation, Mourinho concluded: 'The story with Vinícius, knowing about the four-match suspension two hours before the match, does not deserve comment. Real fans are not stupid, and I will do everything possible to open people's eyes.'
For Mourinho, it was a good evening on the field, as his substitutions changed the course of the game in favor of Real after the team had been suppressed for a long time. Donnella Malin's double goal gave Roma a 3-1 lead in the second half, but two of Mourinho's substitutes—Endrick and Carlos Espi—scored, and another player, Arda Güler, provided two assists during the late surge.