Real Madrid forward Vinícius Jr has called on referees to give greater protection to attacking players, naming himself, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Atlético Madrid’s Julián Álvarez among those he believes need better treatment on the pitch.

The Brazilian forward broke his silence after he was handed a four-match ban on Wednesday y after being sent off during Saturday’s 1-0 La Liga win over Villarreal for pulling the hair of an opponent.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, the Brazilian said, “I think the punishment came at a bad time. They had the whole day to announce the decision, but I found out about it when I arrived at the stadium. The rule is new, and La Liga officials always come to explain the new amendments to us, but they did not explain this particular rule to us.”

He added: “I have never committed a violent act against another player. I get kicked a lot, and yet I feel that referees show me cards very easily.”

The 25-year-old also stressed the need for referees to protect players capable of influencing matches, citing Yamal and Álvarez alongside himself.

“The fans have to boo me because I’m here to score goals against their teams, but I don’t understand the referees, because I’ve seen a statistic that says I get 500 fouls for five red cards and I don’t know how many yellow cards, and the yellow cards are always for Vini. I don’t understand. We have to defend the players who do things differently, like Lamine at Barcelona or Julián at Atlético,” he said.

Reflecting on his career at Real Madrid, Vinícius recalled joining the Spanish club at 18 and facing doubts about his ability to score goals.

“Remember, I arrived at 18 years old and many people laughed at me. They said I can’t score, then I had more than 100 goals for Madrid,” he said.