MADRID — Atletico Madrid have hit back at Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho after his criticism of referees following Atletico's 2-1 derby victory at the Metropolitano on Sunday. Mourinho arrived at his post-match press conference holding printouts displaying two incidents he believed should have resulted in red cards for Atletico players in the defeat.
"We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," Mourinho said, holding up the images in what was the start of a near five-minute rant. "Those were two clear red cards. The difficulties we've faced since the sending-off - 11 against 10 - well, we can imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like if justice had been done." He was angry that Atletico defender Cristian Romero was not sent off for a stamp on Jude Bellingham and also complained about a challenge by Lee Kang-in on Federico Valverde before Real were reduced to 10 men five minutes after half-time.
On Monday, Atletico responded with two posts on their X account. The first was a video showing a sheet of paper being printed with the words '#StopAcosoArbitalYA,' which means "stop referee harassment now." A second post showed an image of Mourinho at the news conference with the same message.
Mourinho aimed sharp criticism at referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias and those who appointed him. "They've put a referee, aged 41, with no international experience - it's certainly not because he's a great referee," Mourinho said. "Then the poor chap has come here and hasn't been able to cope with the pressure - and it really is intense pressure. I call it '80s-style pressure' here in this stadium, which you hardly ever see these days." On the pitch, Real defender Dean Huijsen was dismissed for bringing down Giuliano Simeone inside the area as the last defender, allowing Alejandro Grimaldo to score with a low spot-kick. Jonathan David doubled Atletico's lead six minutes later, with Antonio Rudiger heading in a free-kick late on to reduce the deficit. Asked about being six points behind Barcelona, Mourinho said: "If they just leave us in peace and let us compete on a level playing field with everyone else, we've still got a long way to go," adding, "I don't want to go so far as to say this was set up... I want to believe that they simply made a mistake."
Real Madrid also released an official match report after full-time which echoed Mourinho's views, claiming the defeat was "marked by poor officiating." The club said Ortiz Arias "failed to send off Cuti Romero in the first half for stepping on Jude Bellingham's knee (despite reviewing the play on the monitor) and Kang-In Lee for stepping on Valverde's left ankle." The report detailed that in the 35th minute Bellingham got to the ball before Romero and the defender planted his studs into the left knee of the Madrid player, with Ortiz Arias initially booking Bellingham before being called by Trujillo Suarez to review the incident on the monitor and then rescinding the card and issuing a yellow to Romero instead of a red. Nine minutes later, the referee did not penalize Kang-In Lee for striking Valverde with his studs on the left ankle, showing neither red nor yellow, nor was he alerted by Trujillo Suarez.