Here’s why Wolves star Matheus Cunha was furious at Vini Jr on Brazil duty

Despite Gary O’Neil’s sacking, a relegation battle and Vitor Pereira’s arrival, there has always been one constant at Wolverhampton Wanderers; Matheus Cunha.

With Pedro Neto leaving last summer, the Old Gold needed someone to step up and in the shape of their mercurial Brazilian, they found a new talisman.

Cunha has been exceptional this term and on his way to signing a new contract over the winter, has scored 15 goals and supplied four assists in 29 games.

Is it any wonder he’s attracted the interest of both Arsenal and Manchester United? A summer exit sadly feels likely.

Yet, it hasn’t all been positive press for Cunha, as the incident at Bournemouth will tell you.

The latest on Matheus Cunha’s ban

During their FA Cup clash with Bournemouth last month, Cunha was shown a straight red card for an incident with left-back Milos Kerkez.

He lashed out at the Hungarian three times, kicking him and then aiming a headbutt at the defender.

He was subsequently charged by the FA for ‘acting in an inappropriate manner’ and was given a three-game ban.

That came after he was handed a two-game suspension earlier in the season for an incident against Ipswich when he grabbed a member of their security team’s glasses.

Well, news broke earlier this week that the attacker has now been handed an additional one-game suspension

and slapped with a £50,000 fine, meaning he won’t play again until their clash with Spurs on April 13th.

It seems Cunha can’t keep out of the news after another incident on international duty with Brazil.

What happened between Cunha and Vinicius Jr

The 25-year-old is still in the infancy of his international career.

Handed the first of his 11 caps in 2021, the former Atletico Madrid forward didn’t make a single appearance for his country in 2024.

However, his excellent form at Molineux prompted a call-up for the Selecao’s recent set of fixtures against Colombia in the early hours of Friday morning and Argentina in the early hours of Wednesday.

Brazil beat Colombia 2-1 the other night, with Cunha coming on for the last half an hour.

Vini Jr scored a last-gasp winner in stoppage time but as he was substituted, Cunha and teammate Raphinha were not best pleased with him.

Why? Well, as the footage shows below, the Real Madrid superstar was time-wasting and a yellow card would have meant he missed the game with Argentina.

Cunha and Raphinha didn’t just urge him once to get off the field quickly, but they did so twice. Talk about being a good teammate.