The flashpoint arrived in the 25th minute when referee JesĂșs Gil Manzano showed El Hilali a straight red card for a challenge on the Brazilian. VAR intervened immediately and, after a pitchside review, the punishment was reduced to a yellow card.
Before the card was rescinded, Vinicius made clear his view of his opponent's approach throughout the match.
"Stop the nonsense, then ask me to change the shirt. You're stupid, you want to fight. I won't change your shirt."
A subsequent exchange drew a sharp response from El Hilali, described by Vinicius as increasingly irritating.
"Fool. You're stupid."
El Hilali replied with a single word: "Silly."
Vinicius then turned to a teammate, dismissing the Espanyol youngster.
"It's silly, brother. He wants to be a fool for TV."
Later in the match, with the RCDE Stadium crowd directing chants at the Madrid forward, Vinicius delivered the sharpest line of the evening directly to El Hilali.
"You're going back to Second Division, brother."
The exchange had no further bearing on the match. Vinicius scored twice in the second half â a near-post finish on 55 minutes and a strike into the top corner 11 minutes later â to settle the game and delay Barcelona's LaLiga title celebrations.
Real Madrid remain 11 points behind Barcelona with four games to play. The two sides meet at Camp Nou next Sunday.