‘VAR was sleeping in 60th minute,’ says Mourinho after Barcelona’s Cancelo escapes booking during El Clasico

Following the victory against Barcelona, Jose Mourinho has now guided Real Madrid to five consecutive wins in all competitons. | Photo Credit: AP

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho praised his team for playing an “extraordinary match” against Barcelona in La Liga 2026-27 on Sunday, but criticised the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for ignoring Joao Cancelo’s dangerous challenge on Yan Diomande.

Kylian Mbappe grabbed a match-winning brace at Camp Nou while Raphinha found the back of the net for Barcelona as Real Madrid cut the gap down to three to the league leader.

In the first El Clasico of his second spell with Real, Mourinho managed to rally his men to find answers and end Barcelona’s perfect start to the league campaign.

“The lads ⁠played an extraordinary match,” Mourinho said after the match.

“Very organised, focused, and showing the courage to play the ball out from the back against an opponent that applied ​a lot of pressure,” he added.

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But despite the result, Mourinho expressed disappointment with the match officials for not cautioning Cancelo, who seemed to catch the back of Diomande’s right foot around the hour mark.

“The referee was great, but the VAR was sleeping in the 60th minute. There was a clear red card for Cancelo’s foul on Diomande,” Mourinho noted.

But the 63-year-old chose not to dwell too much on the incident, going on to assert that the club’s goal is not just to win at Camp Nou, but rather to win the title.

“If we win today but lose at El Sardinero (against Racing Santander), it counts for nothing, because ‌Madrid isn’t playing to win at the Camp Nou. They’re playing to win the championship,” Mourinho said.