Following Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid, Jose Mourinho presented photographs of two first-half challenges he maintained should have resulted in red cards.
Jose Mourinho held up images of two first-half tackles during his post-match press conference, arguing that match officials had lost control of Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat by Atletico Madrid.
Real were furious that Atletico defender Cristian Romero was not dismissed for a stamp on Jude Bellingham. The home side also objected to Lee Kang-in’s challenge on Federico Valverde before they were reduced to 10 men five minutes after half-time in Sunday’s heated Madrid derby.
Valverde finished the match but was subsequently diagnosed with “severe trauma to his left ankle”, according to the club. The midfielder will undergo further tests.
“We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said, raising the images as his complaint developed into a nearly five-minute outburst.
“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.”
Real defender Dean Huijsen was sent off for taking down Giuliano Simeone inside the area as the last defender, enabling Alejandro Grimaldo to convert the resulting low spot kick. Jonathan David put Atletico 2-0 up six minutes later, while Antonio Ruediger headed a late free kick to narrow the gap.
Mourinho said he could only “hug” his players after a first half he described as “full of class and great character”, but directed sharp criticism at referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias and the authorities who selected him for the match.
“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.”
When asked about Real being six points behind Barcelona, Mourinho offered a pointed response.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Responding to Mourinho’s remarks, Atletico manager Diego Simeone called for greater restraint from managers.
“Whoever is speaking – be it me, Mourinho, Hansi Flick or Manuel Pellegrini, anyone – we have to be careful what we say,” Simeone said. “When you step outside the bounds of respect, whoever you are, it’s not on. You can’t cross that line.”
Simeone chose instead to discuss Atletico’s performance.
“Today we saw a great match; we defended very well against a team that plays very well,” he said.
“We controlled the match when it was 11 against 11. We continued to control it when it became 10 against 11. But this isn’t just another step towards continuing to grow and improve.”
Atletico moved above Real into second place with 16 points, five adrift of leaders Barcelona and one ahead of Real and Real Betis.