Levante captain Unai Elgezabal hit out at Vinícius Júnior on Tuesday, accusing the forward of showing a “lack of respect” during Real Madrid‘s 4-1 LaLiga win, and saying “enough is enough.”
Defender Elgezabal fouled Kylian Mbappé to concede a penalty in the second half at the Ciutat de Valencia Stadium, which Mbappé converted to make it 3-1 in the 64th minute.
As Mbappé waited to take the spot kick, Elgezabal clashed with Vinícius, reacting angrily after the Brazil international spoke to him and placed his hand on the defender’s neck.
Speaking after the game, Elgezabal was reluctant to go into details about the incident, saying he didn’t “want to add more fuel to the fire.”
“When there’s a lack of respect to us, the fans, and the team we represent … we’re people, and you have to say enough is enough,” he said.
“[Vinícius] is obviously a player with a lot of potential. But I defend, and I transmit, values that mean sometimes, you have to say enough is enough. I think it wasn’t the moment. For me, it was out of place. But that’s all, I don’t want to make more of it than that.”
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Vinícius had opened the scoring with a spectacular outside-of-the-boot finish in the first half, helping Madrid make it six wins out of six in LaLiga this season.
Coach Xabi Alonso praised the forward’s contribution as “decisive” while Vinícius admitted the strike was “one of the best goals I’ve scored with the outside of my foot.”
Vinícius has had an inconsistent start to the season, being left out of the Madrid starting XI by Alonso in two of the team’s seven matches in all competitions so far.
Madrid visit local rivals Atlético Madrid on Saturday.
