Atletico Madrid have hit back at Real Madrid's criticism of the referring decisions during the derby on Sunday. Jose Mourinho arrived at the post-match press conference with printouts displaying two incidents he believed should have resulted in red cards to Atletico players. The former Chelsea manager accused officials of making key errors in the match, which Real lost 2-1.
On Monday, Atletico put two posts on their X account, the first a video showing a sheet of paper being printed with the words '#StopAcosoArbitalYA,' which means "stop referee harassment now". A second post showed an image of Mourinho at the news conference with the same message. Mourinho held up pictures of two tackles to the media after Real's defeat.
Mourinho strongly criticised the officials and was angry that Atletico defender Cristian Romero was not sent off for a stamp on Jude Bellingham. He also complained about a challenge by Lee Kang-in on Federico Valverde, before the visitors were reduced to 10 men five minutes after half-time. "We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," Mourinho said, holding up the images in what was the start of a near five-minute rant.
"Those were two clear red cards. 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." Real defender Dean Huijsen was dismissed for bringing down Giuliano Simeone inside the area as the last defender, allowing Alejandro Grimaldo to score with a low spot-kick. Jonathan David doubled Atletico's lead six minutes later, with Antonio Rudiger heading in a free-kick late on to reduce the deficit.
Mourinho said he could only "hug" his players after what he described as a first half "full of class and great character", but he aimed sharp criticism at referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias and those who appointed him. "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." Asked about being six points behind Barcelona, Mourinho offered a pointed reply. "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. "I don't want to go so far as to say this was set up...
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