Official club channels rarely take a direct shot at a rival’s biggest name. Espanyol did on Saturday night.

Shortly after Real Madrid left the RCDE Stadium with a 2-1 opening-weekend win, the Catalan club posted a message on X aimed straight at Vinícius Júnior. In its English rendering, the tweet asked “how many swimming pools does it take to get a second yellow card? Asking for a friend.” In Spanish, “piscina” doubles as slang for a dive, and the pun landed in seconds.

The context sharpened it. Vinícius had already been booked in the first half after a scuffle with Alex Calatrava, Spanish outlet Futbolred reported, and then went down twice inside the Espanyol area chasing a penalty. The referee waved both appeals away and VAR did not step in. A second yellow for simulation would have left Real Madrid with ten men.

Mourinho invokes an ‘era of bullying’

Mourinho, in his first La Liga match back as Real Madrid head coach, chose the opposite tone. He accused opponents and rival crowds of bullying the Brazilian.

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“Vinicius is no saint, but what they’re doing to him was too much. Right from the first minute. It’s a pattern that repeats itself from one opponent to the next,” Mourinho told reporters.

“We’re in an era where society is against bullying, yet with Vini we’re still seeing bullying, from opponents and from the crowd.”

The Portuguese coach also urged his forward to keep his composure.

“He needs to have a lot of emotional control. I’ve told him that if he scores a goal, he needs to be careful how he celebrates it,” Mourinho said.

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Calatrava’s fifth-minute foul

The tone was set inside five minutes. Calatrava brought Vinícius down from behind and, with the winger on the ground, appeared to catch him again. Real Madrid players surrounded the referee demanding a red card, and left the huddle with only a booking for Vinícius. Calatrava went on to level the score after Jude Bellingham had opened the scoring, before Carlos Espí won it late for the visitors.

The pile-on continued into Sunday. Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Santi Cañizares laid into Vinícius on Spanish radio, saying “nobody wants him” and arguing that elite clubs steer clear of what he called “conflictive profiles”. Espanyol’s post, meanwhile, remains up.

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