Mourinho lashed out at La Liga referees after Madrid derby loss: Two clear red cards
Jose Mourinho entered the post-match press conference with a sheet of paper in hand. It featured images of two first-half challenges involving Atlético Madrid players. For the coach of Real Madrid, they told the story of the derby that his team had just lost 2-1.
“We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said, holding up the pictures. “It was two clear red cards.
It was classic Mourinho. Rather than start with Atlético’s win or Real Madrid’s performance, he went straight to the officials. He was furious that Cristian Romero was not sent off for a stamp on Jude Bellingham and that Lee Kang-in escaped a red card for his challenge on Federico Valverde.
Mourinho’s argument was simple: if both Atlético players were sent off, Real Madrid would have 50 minutes against nine men. Instead, his own side ended up 10th.
“The difficulties we have faced since the sending off. 11 to 10. Well, we can imagine how 50 minutes 11 to 9 would have been if justice had been done,” he said.
The turning point came five minutes after half-time when Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen was sent off for bringing down Giuliano Simeone inside the area as the last defender. Alejandro Grimaldo converted the penalty to give Atletico the lead and Jonathan David doubled the lead six minutes later. Antonio Rudiger helped Real Madrid with a late header but Atletico held on to claim the points and move above their city rivals in the table.
Mourinho, however, did little to criticize his players. He said they had shown enough quality and character, especially before Huijsen’s dismissal, and praised them for continuing to fight even when they were on the ground.
“I have to limit myself to hugging my players who gave their all,” he said. “They played a first half of great quality, great personality.
Then came a wider attack on officials.
Mourinho has questioned the decision to appoint Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias, pointing out that the 41-year-old referee has no international status. He suggested that the occasion proved too much for the official, claiming that the pressure inside the Metropolitano was something he associated with Spanish football in the 1980s.
“They put in a 41-year-old referee with no international experience – it’s certainly not because he’s a great referee,” Mourinho said. “Then the poor guy came in here and couldn’t handle the pressure – and it’s a really strong pressure. I call it ’80s-style pressure’ here in this stadium, which you hardly see these days.”
Mourinho also turned his attention to VAR official Daniel Jesus Trujillo. He questioned why Trujillo intervened in one of the incidents but, in his opinion, did not do the same in the other.
“This combination… a referee, a bad referee who has only played small games and a VAR official with a big history… well, congratulations to the referee appointment committee,” he said.
Interestingly, Mourinho did not pretend to have all the answers when asked about Huijsen’s recall. He admitted he didn’t watch the incident on his iPad and didn’t want to rule on whether the foul started inside or outside the area.
“I still haven’t seen it. And it was very far away for me to judge. I don’t know,” he said.
The defeat leaves Real Madrid six points behind leaders Barcelona, but Mourinho insists the title race is far from over. However, his frustration was clear as he called for his team to compete on what he described as a level playing field.
“If they leave us alone and let us compete on a level playing field with everyone else, we still have a long way to go,” Mourinho said.
Stopping short of suggesting the referees’ decisions were deliberate, he said he wanted to believe they were simply mistakes.
“I don’t want to go so far as to say it was set up. I want to believe they just made a mistake.”
Atlético coach Diego Simeone was asked about Mourinho’s comments after the game and decided not to get drawn into further refereeing debate. Instead, he urged coaches to be careful what they say.
“Whoever speaks – whether it’s me, Mourinho, Hansi Flick or Manuel Pellegrini, whoever – we have to be careful what we say,” Simeone said. “When you cross the line of respect, whoever you are, it’s not on. You can’t cross that line.”
Atlético’s win took them to 16 points, five behind Barcelona and one ahead of Real Madrid and Real Betis.
– The end
Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
20 Sep 2026 11:29 IST