Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr and Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong were involved in a rough tussle during Thursday's fiery El Clasico.
The two La Liga giants met for the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu, as Barcelona came away with a hard-earned 1-0 win. Nacho's own-goal separated the sides, as Real Madrid failed to record a shot on target in a home game for the first time since 2010.
Los Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti has criticised Barca manager Xavi over his "strange tactics," claiming that the visitors "didn't deserve" their victory. As we've seen on plenty of occasions throughout the previous 100 El Clasico matches, things got heated between both sets of players, most notably when Vinicius and De Jong came to blows just minutes before Nacho put the ball into his own net.
As Dutch midfielder De Jong dribbled towards Real Madrid's half, a sliding tackle from Toni Kroos took him off course and into Vinicius' path. The Brazilian winger nipped in to try and steal back possession for the hosts, only to end up in a tangle with De Jong as the ball ran away from both players.
Instead of letting the incident slide, the pair continued their skirmish and ended up grabbing one another. Vinicius went first by getting hold of De Jong's neck with two hands, prompting the Netherlands international to retaliate and put both of his arms around his opponent's body.
Losing their balance and with the ball out of reach, Vinicius proceeded to forcefully pull down on De Jong's neck and take the Barca playmaker to the floor. After riving De Jong down and hearing the whistle, the 22-year-old furiously pleaded his innocence with referee Jose Munuera as a fracas around them ensued.
Munuera had a good view of the incident and brandished Vinicius with a yellow card, the first of seven which were dished out on the night - one of which went to Xavi for touchline protests in added time. After being booked, the Real Madrid man continued to gesticulate and his team-mates were forced to intervene in an attempt to calm him down.
Unfortunately for Los Blancos, they'd all be left frustrated by the time the final whistle sounded, as Barcelona escaped enemy territory with a precious advantage heading into the second leg on Wednesday, April 5. Before then, the heavyweights will face each other in a potential title-deciding La Liga clash at Camp Nou.
Ancelotti has provided even more needle with his post-match comments, saying: "It's been a bit strange to see [Barcelona] play like this. But they have been very solid, they have a collective commitment and they have closed all the lines very well. Having to attack them with crosses is not the best thing to do, as I said before. And they have led us to that."
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Asked if Barca deserved their narrow win, Ancelotti replied: "No, it's pretty obvious. There have hardly been any occasions [for them to score]. I think it's been one of our best games defensively all season."
Xavi still wants more from his players in round two, declaring: "We weren't able to retain the ball, it was difficult for us to win duels in Madrid's half. We defended well without the ball. We fought well without the ball. People are supportive. I am satisfied, but we have to improve how we play with the ball; we cannot give dominance to the opposition. I'm satisfied with the result and not so much with the game."
