Christoph Kramer did not bother with euphemisms.
“Because Vini Junior is a real provocateur, but above all, he lets himself be provoked,” the former Germany midfielder said, outlining a very specific plan for dealing with Real Madrid’s Brazilian star. In his eyes, Vinicius is both the spark and the tinder – dangerous with the ball, vulnerable without it.
Kramer’s idea was as cynical as it was clear: don’t waste a yellow card on Vinicius early. Save it. Use it.
“You mustn’t pick up a yellow card against him early on; from the 80th minute onwards – if you haven’t got a yellow yet – then I’d go head-to-head with him and then we’d both get a yellow,” he suggested. The message was obvious: manage your own disciplinary risk, then drag him into the same trap when it hurts Madrid most.
Sitting alongside him as a TV expert, Mats Hummels immediately put a limit on that strategy. Not everyone, he argued, should be drawn into the dark arts.
He flatly ruled out Konrad Laimer as the man for the job, pointing out that the Austrian is himself one booking away from a ban. Bayern, he insisted, simply cannot afford to lose Laimer for the return leg.
“You’ll need him for the second leg,” Hummels warned, before naming a different type of enforcer. “I’d just have someone like Luis Díaz, Harry Kane or Olise – one of those lads – go head-to-head with him for a split second, and you’ll get the push for the yellow card in return. That’s set in stone.”
The subtext was unmistakable: pick a forward with enough status, enough edge, to needle Vinicius in the right moment and draw the reaction. One flash, one shove, one card.
All of this played out against a finely balanced disciplinary backdrop for Real Madrid. Vinicius was not the only player walking a tightrope going into Tuesday’s second leg against Bayern.
Álvaro Arbeloa, overseeing a side packed with stars but laced with risk, knew that several of his key men were one mis-timed tackle away from missing the decisive game in Munich. Kylian Mbappé, Dean Huijsen, Álvaro Carreras and Aurélien Tchouameni all stepped onto the pitch under the threat of suspension for a second yellow card.
The margin for error vanished early. In the 37th minute, Tchouameni’s name went into the referee’s book. That single moment guaranteed his absence from next week’s clash at the Allianz Arena and underlined just how fragile Madrid’s position is when it comes to discipline.
Even Jude Bellingham, starting on the bench, could not escape the cloud hanging over the squad. One more booking for him, and he would also sit out the second leg.
While pundits debated the merits of calculated provocation, Vincent Kompany took a very different line. The Bayern coach brushed aside the notion that his team might deliberately hunt for yellow cards for Vinicius or any other Madrid player.
“That cannot be a tactic,” the Belgian insisted at his press conference, shutting the door on any suggestion that Bayern would go down that road. For Kompany, the idea of building a game plan around targeted suspensions crossed a line he clearly does not want his team to approach.
His own dressing room is hardly free from concern. Dayot Upamecano, a central pillar in Bayern’s defence, also faces the risk of a yellow card suspension. Laimer, as Hummels highlighted, is in the same precarious position.
So the tie moves on with a strange tension running beneath it. One misjudged duel, one emotional reaction, and a star disappears from the second leg.
In a semi-final defined by fine margins, the battle might be decided not only by who scores – but by who keeps their head when the temperature rises.
