Mourinho blasts ref: 'Two red cards' for Atleti

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  Alex KirklandSep 20, 2026, 01:44 PM ET

José Mourinho blasted the referee and the VAR after Real Madrid's 2-1 derby defeat to Atlético Madrid, saying Atlético should have received "two clear red cards" and claiming the on-field official "couldn't cope with the pressure."

Alejandro Grimaldo put Atlético ahead with a second-half penalty at the Metropolitano -- after defender Dean Huijsen was sent off for bringing down Giuliano Simeone -- before Jonathan David made it 2-0. Antonio Rüdiger pulled a late goal back as Madrid dropped to fourth in the LaLiga table.

However, Mourinho's post-match news conference focused on two first-half incidents, where Atlético's Cristian Romero was shown a yellow card -- not a red -- for treading on Jude Bellingham's knee, while Lee Kang-in escaped punishment for a crunching challenge on Federico Valverde.

Mourinho brought printed-out photos of the two incidents into the press room to show journalists, before delivering a long, damning indictment of referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias and VAR Daniel Trujillo Suárez.

"The story of the game is here," Mourinho said, holding up the images of the two challenges. "They're two clear red cards. With the difficulties we had afterwards -- with 11 versus 10 [players] -- you could imagine what it would have been like [for us] for 50 minutes with 11 versus nine.

"It's the CTA [the referee's committee]. It's all been very strange. It's a referee [Ortiz Arias] who, at 41, doesn't have international experience. I don't know why he was the referee. The poor guy came here and couldn't cope with the pressure.

"But for [the VAR] there's no pressure, at [RFEF HQ] Las Rozas there's no pressure. Or maybe there is and we don't know... That combination -- a poor referee, who's only done small games, and a VAR with a big history. Congratulations to the CTA."

The Portuguese coach said he hadn't yet seen a replay of Huijsen's red card, and went on to list a series of incidents in games involving Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético in recent weeks, suggesting Real's rivals had benefitted.

"The penalty at Real Sociedad [for Atlético] is laughable," Mourinho said. "The penalty for Barcelona is laughable, the non-sending off [for Barcelona] against Athletic Club. So many things together... I thought I'd find a different league to the one I left [in 2013], and people told me no, and they explained why. But we'll fight."

Madrid are now six points behind leaders Barcelona with seven games played, going into the international break.

"If 'they' leave us in peace, and let us compete on an even playing field, there's a long way left," Mourinho said, when asked if his team could still fight for the title.

"I don't want to say this was prepared. I want to think they're mistakes, like a coach makes mistakes. I want to think the CTA made a mistake, and picked a referee of 41, who's never been in this situation. They made a mistake, that's all."

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Atlético coach Diego Simeone refused to discuss the refereeing decisions, preferring to focus on his team.

"We're always respectful of others' opinions," he said, when asked about Mourinho's comments.

"We're in a privileged position: Mourinho, [Hansi] Flick, [Manuel] Pellegrini, me. We need to be careful what we say... When we go outside that respect, it doesn't matter if you're Mourinho, Simeone, Pellegrini or Flick, you can't cross that line."