Vinicius Jr will miss Real Madrid's first Clasico of the season against Barcelona after the Spanish Football Federation's disciplinary committee gave the Brazil forward a four-match suspension on Wednesday.
The attacker was sent off for pulling the hair of Nathan Saliba after coming off the bench during Saturday's 1-0 win over Villarreal. The committee imposed a two-match ban for the red card and added a further two games for his protests to the referee, according to the disciplinary report from the eighth round of LaLiga fixtures.
The suspension rules Vinicius out of league matches against Sevilla, Barcelona, Racing Santander and Valencia, leaving coach Jose Mourinho without one of his most heavily used forwards for the trip to Camp Nou. Vinicius has started all but one of Real's matches this season.
The winger was celebrating his second goal of the match against Villarreal when referee Isidro Diaz de Mera was summoned by the video assistant to examine the build-up to the strike. The goal was disallowed after review showed Vinicius pulling the hair of Saliba as they sprinted down the field, and a straight red card followed, forcing Madrid to play with 10 men from the 73rd minute onwards.
The dismissal led to angry confrontations on the pitch as the forward shouted at Diaz de Mera while teammates attempted to restrain him. Mourinho had initially joined the goal celebrations but was left incensed by the decision, and he subsequently missed the mandatory post-match press conference, reportedly out of concern that comments about the refereeing would trigger a suspension.
Following the incident, Vinicius used social media to apologise to his teammates and Real Madrid fans, writing on Instagram: "Sorry to my team and my fans." He did not apologise to Saliba.
The Clasico takes place on 25 October, with Real travelling to league leaders Barcelona. Six points currently separate the teams in the table.