Mourinho Blasts Referee After Atletico Avoid Two Red Cards in Madrid Derby

• Real Madrid lost 2-1 to Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano on Sunday, and the club’s own post-match statement blamed the defeat on the “poor officiating” of referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias.
• Jose Mourinho held up photographs of two tackles in his press conference, arguing Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in should both have been sent off for standing on Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde.
• Tempers boiled over in the tunnel at half-time too, with one member of Mourinho’s coaching staff and one from Atletico’s both sent off before the second half had even started.

Mourinho Let Two Photographs Do the Talking

Jose Mourinho did not open his press conference with a greeting. He opened it with two printed photographs, held up to the cameras before a single question had been asked.

“We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” he said, holding up the images at the start of what turned into a near five-minute rant.

The photographs showed Atletico Madrid defender Cristian Romero standing on Jude Bellingham’s knee, and Lee Kang-in catching Federico Valverde’s ankle with his studs. Neither earned a red card. Real Madrid lost 2-1 at the Metropolitano, a result that leaves them six points behind leaders Barcelona only a handful of games into the season, and Mourinho spent his post-match press conference making sure nobody thought the story of the day was anything else.

“Those were two clear red cards,” he said. “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.”

The Madrid derby rarely needs help generating tension on its own. Sunday’s version, played in front of a full house at the Metropolitano, produced two disputed non-decisions in the first half, a tunnel confrontation at the interval, and a red card that turned the second half in Atletico’s favour. By full time, the football itself had become almost a secondary talking point.

The Two Tackles That Went Unpunished

In the 35th minute, with the game still goalless, Bellingham reached a contested ball a fraction before Romero. The Atletico defender planted his studs into the England midfielder’s left knee. Referee Ortiz Arias initially booked Bellingham for the coming-together, then was called over by VAR official Trujillo Suarez to review the incident on the pitchside monitor. After watching it back, he rescinded Bellingham’s yellow card and gave one to Romero instead. No red card followed either player.

Nine minutes later, Lee Kang-in caught Valverde on the left ankle with his studs in a challenge for the ball. Ortiz Arias was close to the incident and produced no card at all, yellow or red. Trujillo Suarez did not step in a second time.

Real Madrid’s official account of the match, published after full time, went through both incidents point by point. “Real Madrid lost at the Metropolitano in a derby marked by the poor officiating of Ortiz Arias, who 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 statement read.

“Both decisions shaped the match, which was decided in the second half in favor of Atletico,” the club added. “Until the 30th minute, the game had very few dangerous plays. But from that point on, controversy took over the derby.”

On the second incident, the club’s statement went further: “Nine minutes later, the referee made another crucial error by not penalizing Kang-In Lee for a challenge on Valverde, where he struck him with his studs on the left ankle. Ortiz Arias was close to the incident but did not show a red card (or even a yellow card) to the Atletico player, nor was he alerted by Trujillo Suarez on this occasion.”

The Derby Boiled Over at Half-Time

The two teams went in level at 0-0, and that was when the afternoon turned uglier still. Players and members of both benches clashed in the tunnel on their way to the dressing rooms, and the referee separated the confrontation by sending off two people, one from each side, according to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo. One of Atletico’s coaching staff was dismissed, and so was one of Mourinho’s own assistants at Real Madrid.

Antonio Rudiger and Hojlund squared up too, with the referee stepping in to pull them apart before either could be shown a card. It capped a first half that had already been littered with fouls and flashpoints, forcing Ortiz Arias to intervene again and again before the interval had even arrived.

Huijsen’s Red Card Changed the Game

Real Madrid had their own man sent off in the second half. Dean Huijsen was dismissed for bringing down Giuliano Simeone inside the penalty area as the last defender, and Alejandro Grimaldo scored the resulting penalty with a low finish. Jonathan David doubled Atletico’s lead six minutes later. Antonio Rudiger headed in a free-kick late in the game to reduce the deficit, but Real Madrid could not find an equaliser while playing a man short.

Mourinho said he could only “hug” his players after a first half he described as “full of class and great character,” before turning his attention to Ortiz Arias and those who picked him for the fixture.

“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.”

‘I Want to Believe They Simply Made a Mistake’

Asked about the six-point gap to Barcelona this early in the season, Mourinho gave a pointed answer. “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.

He stopped short of alleging anything more than an error. “I don’t want to go so far as to say this was set up,” he said. “I want to believe that they simply made a mistake.”

It was a restrained line from a manager who had just spent five minutes holding up photographic evidence of what he considered match-defining mistakes, and it left his complaint sitting somewhere between a protest and an accusation. He had already made his real point with the photographs. The quote afterward was closer to a man choosing his words for the record.

What Comes Next

The defeat leaves Real Madrid’s title bid with an early gap to make up, six points behind Barcelona just a handful of games into the season. Ortiz Arias, an official Mourinho pointed out was 41 years old and without international experience, will face scrutiny over both non-decisions in the coming days. Images from the match showed both Bellingham and Romero on the ground after the collision, and Real Madrid’s own statement made clear the club considers both tackles worthy of retrospective action. Neither Romero nor Lee Kang-in can actually be sent off after the fact, no matter how the review goes.

The tunnel incident adds a separate strand for the Spanish football federation’s disciplinary committee to look at, on top of the refereeing complaints. Two staff members from a fixture with this much history being dismissed before the second half had even kicked off is the kind of detail that tends to draw its own hearing, regardless of what happens with the red-card review.

The result stands. Atletico keep the points from the derby, and Real Madrid are left with a printed set of photographs, an official complaint, and a manager who chose his words carefully enough to make his anger unmistakable without quite calling it a conspiracy.

“I want to believe that they simply made a mistake,” Mourinho said again, as if repeating it might make it easier to accept. For now, that is where Real Madrid’s version of Sunday night in Madrid has to rest.