Despite having the opportunity of fielding Vinicius Junior on Wednesday, Real Madrid played their La Liga fixture at home against Rayo Vallecano without the Brazilian in their 2-1 win.

Vinicius Junior, a subject of racial abuse in the 1-0 loss to Valencia on Sunday, was cleared to play by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, who stepped into what had become a messy exchange between the winger and La Liga president Javier Tebas.

The La Liga president apologized on Wednesday in an interview, stating that he didn’t mean to attach Vinicius in that back and fourth Twitter exchange between the two where Vinicius said La Liga belonged to racists, while Tebas seemingly chastised Vinicius for not attending meetings meant to address racial issues. 

“I didn’t mean to attack Vinicius, but if people understood it that way, I have to apologize. That was not my intention, far from it. I was trying to clarify a situation and explain it.” Tebas said.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was not happy with how La Liga handled the case and stated this on Monday, and despite Tuesday’s development that made Vinicius available, the Brazilian did not make the Matchday squad.

The Italian went with a front three of Federico Valverde, Benzema, and Rodrygo, and it was the Frenchman who opened the scoring in the 31 minutes. The result remained that way until 84 minutes, when Raul De Thomas equalized for the away side.

Rodrygo got the winner with a minute left, and Real Madrid got back to winning ways. The other games saw Elche draw 1-1 with Sevilla, while Villarreal beat Cadiz 2-0 thanks to Nicolas Johnson’s brace in the first half.

Two more games will happen on Thursday with Mallorca and Valencia while Osasuna hosts Athletic Club. There are two more matchdays left in the La Liga before the end of the 2022/2023 season.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu