Vinicius’ sanction was announced on Wednesday to preserve the appeal window

The Disciplinary Committee announced on Wednesday a four-match sanction against Vinicius. José Mourinho and the player both objected to the timing, with the announcement made at the time of the match against Roma. They questioned whether it could have been made earlier, or on Thursday rather than during the game.

The timing reflected the procedural deadlines and Monday’s holiday for Día de la Hispanidad. Sanctions are usually announced on Wednesday mornings, after the three members of the Disciplinary Committee meet once the Tuesday-afternoon deadline has passed. This time, the holiday pushed the deadline back to Wednesday, the second working day.

The deadline for submissions ran until 14:00 on Wednesday. The three members of the disciplinary body met as soon as it expired to consider the submissions. The Disciplinary Committee announced its decision that day so Real Madrid would still have room to respond: a later announcement would have left the club without time to act.

The disciplinary code sets a deadline for submissions which, when a match is played on a day other than the weekend, ends at 14:00 on the next working day. Wednesday’s announcement then left clubs until 15:00 on Thursday to appeal to the Appeal Committee. A further window for an appeal to the second instance runs from 14:00 to 19:00 on Thursday. If an appeal is filed after 20:00, the Appeal Committee could no longer rule on Vinicius’ case before the next round.

The Wednesday-evening announcement therefore left teams time to appeal. Those deadlines also shaped Real Madrid’s opportunity to challenge the sanction within the available timetable.