Down to ten men, Real Madrid lost the derby at Atlético Madrid. The Royals subsequently lashed out at the officials and criticised them sharply.
“We could save ourselves the press conference, because you can see the story of the match right here,” José Mourinho began his statement, before suddenly pulling an A4 sheet of paper from under the counter in the press box. Shown on it: the fouls by Cristian Romero on Jude Bellingham and by Kang-In Lee on Fede Valverde, neither of which had resulted in a sending-off.
Whilst Lee had got away completely without a booking in the 45th minute, Romero had been shown only a yellow card seven minutes earlier, despite VAR checks. Two grossly incorrect decisions from the visitors’ perspective, who subsequently felt compelled to describe the Derbi Madrileno on their website as having been marred by a “catastrophic refereeing performance”.
Mourinho also criticised the video referee
Unlike the hosts, Real had to see out the match a man down after Dean Huijsen was sent off with a straight red card, on top of conceding the penalty. Mourinho had “not yet seen” this incident at the time of the press conference, but he claimed it was irrelevant anyway, as, in his view, Real should have started the second half with a two-man advantage.
“It was all very strange. First of all, we already knew a week before the match who the referee would be, even though, as I’m told, it’s normally only announced 24 hours beforehand,” explained the 63-year-old. He also remarked smugly that reputation had evidently played no part in the referee’s appointment and that they hadn’t wanted a “great referee”. Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias is “a referee who, at the age of 41, has never officiated at international level. Then the poor chap came here and couldn’t cope with the pressure.” Whilst Mourinho did not directly allege a distortion of the competition, he emphasised that the “whole thing was very strange”.
But the hot-headed Portuguese was far from finished with his criticism, as he also took aim at the video assistant referee, Daniel Jesus Trujillo Suarez. “He has a very long history as a VAR in Real Madrid matches,” said Mourinho, citing past fixtures against Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Girona as examples, in which decisions had not gone in favour of Los Blancos.
” This combination: a referee – a poor referee who has so far only officiated very minor matches – and a VAR official with a long history. “Congratulations to the referees’ committee for this appointment,” Mourinho continued his rant, adding sarcastically: “The ones who must be happy – apart from the Atlético fans, because they’re taking the points – are the referees’ committee.”
Gap to Barcelona widens
Following their second defeat of the season, the Royals now trail the flawless FC Barcelona by six points. Mourinho, too, would naturally have envisaged a different start to his second spell at Real, but noted that “it’s not about how you start, but how you finish”.
In any case, following the derby defeat, his players are heading into the international break – which lasts around two weeks – “sad, but with a hug from their manager”. Despite the negative result, Mourinho feels “a positive vibe” and is convinced: “If they leave us alone, leave us in peace and allow us to compete on equal terms with everyone, then everything is still up for grabs.”