Vinicius received an early yellow card in the 7th minute of the match between Brazil and Colombia in the final round of Group D of Copa America 2024. After James Rodriguez lifted the ball over his head, Vinicius used his hand to hit the Colombian midfielder in the face and this foul action did not escape the eyes of Venezuelan referee Jesus Valenzuela.

It was Vinicius’ second yellow card of the Copa America, with the 23-year-old’s first coming against Paraguay. That means the Real Madrid star will be suspended for what is expected to be a tough quarter-final against Uruguay.

Captain Danilo regretfully said: “Vinicius is the trump card, he is the player we have high hopes for and the one who can bring us victory. But we rely on the collective, we have other players with great quality, with great potential. And we will try to somehow cover for Vinicius’ absence and try to beat Uruguay.”

Meanwhile, coach Dorival Junior criticized the referee for not awarding Brazil a penalty at the end of the first half after Vinicius fell in the penalty area, just minutes before Colombia found the equalizer 1-1 thanks to Daniel Munoz.

“At that moment, if we had a penalty, it would have been 2-0, with the team we had, it would have been different. Then we conceded an equaliser. For me, that moment was decisive.

On the pitch, only the referee and the VAR team did not think it was a penalty. Brazil was hurt, we have to be realistic, the truth happened and was not created. If we had led by 2 goals, the game would have been different, Colombia would have had to push up their formation and expose more gaps.

Brazil had to beat Colombia to win Group D. However, they could only draw and finished second. Brazilian sports daily Globo Esporte commented: “After a win against Paraguay and showing progress, the Brazilian team had an unconvincing performance against Colombia.

Coach Dorival Junior’s players were unable to circulate the ball and were controlled by Colombia for most of the game. Colombia had more shots (13 to 7) and ended the match with shouts of “ole” from their fans.