The Madrid derby had barely cooled when José Mourinho turned the post-match room into another contest. Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Atlético on Sunday left the 63-year-old coach raging at referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias and the VAR team, convinced two dismissal-worthy incidents had been missed.
Mourinho arrived with images of the challenges he believed shaped the result. His central argument was that Atlético should have been reduced to nine men before half-time.
Quick facts
- Atlético Madrid beat Real Madrid 2-1 in Sunday’s capital derby.
- Mourinho said two Atlético challenges deserved straight red cards.
- Cristian Romero was booked after a 38th-minute challenge on Jude Bellingham.
- A 44th-minute incident involving Kang-in Lee and Federico Valverde brought no foul decision.
- Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias was refereeing Real Madrid in La Liga for the first time.
The first disputed moment came in the 38th minute, when Romero caught Bellingham with his studs and received only a yellow card. Six minutes later, Mourinho said Kang-in Lee’s challenge on Valverde was not even punished by the referee.
“There is no need for a press conference because the game can be explained by two obvious red cards,” Mourinho said. He asked who could be satisfied after the match beyond Atlético, before pointing towards the officials responsible for referee appointments.
The Real coach also questioned why Ortiz Arias had been named for the fixture a week in advance. Mourinho said appointments normally become public only 24 hours before a match and described the circumstances surrounding the derby as strange.
Referee and VAR under fire
Ortiz Arias, 41, has not handled a European fixture and had never previously taken charge of Real Madrid in the league. Mourinho suggested the referee had struggled with the weight of the occasion, describing the atmosphere around the match as carrying an old-fashioned level of pressure.
Real Madrid also attacked the officiating through the club’s own channels, saying a poor refereeing performance had decided the derby.
Mourinho’s criticism extended to VAR official Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez. The Portuguese coach claimed Trujillo Suárez had a previous record of decisions against Real Madrid while working as an assistant VAR official.
He cited league matches against Osasuna, a 1-0 game, and Girona, which finished 1-1, as earlier examples he believed had gone against his side. For Mourinho, the defeat was not simply a bad derby night; it was evidence of a pattern he was unwilling to let pass quietly.
