Real Madrid will be without star attacker Vinicius Jr. for Sunday’s El Clasico showdown against Barcelona.
The Brazilian will sit out the rivalry match at Camp Nou as he serves the second match of a four-game suspension.
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Vinicius was shown a red card for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair in the second half of a 1-0 win over Villarreal on Oct. 10.
After a VAR review, Vinicius was shown red and reacted by angrily confronting the referee while his teammate Antonio Rüdiger attempted to calm the situation.
On Wednesday, Oct. 14, La Liga announced that Vinicius had been given a four-game ban: two games for the hair pull and another two for his angry protests.
The first game of the ban came on Sunday, Oct. 18 as Real Madrid defeated Sevilla 4-1.
With Vinicius out, the obvious candidate to take his place appears to be Yan Diomande.
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The Ivorian started against Sevilla with Vinicius suspended, and contributed a goal and an assist. He followed that up with a stunning goal against his former team RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Diomande has three goals and three assists in his past four games, providing a huge boost in his first season with Madrid.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why isn’t Vinicius Jr. playing vs Barcelona? Real Madrid star out for El Clasico
