Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho arrived at his post-match news conference carrying an A4 sheet of printed paper with screenshots displaying two incidents he believed should have resulted in Atletico Madrid dismissals. Mourinho accused the officials of making key errors after Real Madrid were beaten 2-1 by Atletico Madrid, claiming the hosts should have been handed two red cards in the first half. It was Real Madrid's second defeat of the season, having lost 1-0 to Real Betis earlier in September.
"We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," Mourinho said as he showed media the printed images. "Those were two clear red cards. Given the difficulties we faced afterwards playing 11 against 10, we can only imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like.
"So I'll just have to limit myself to hugging my players, who gave it their all and played a first half, showed great class and character, setting us up perfectly to win the second half." Diego Simeone, in contrast, was ecstatic with the result and when asked to respond to Mourinho's refereeing rant, said he was always respectful of everyone else's opinions. "I understand that we're in a privileged position with a lot of public scrutiny, as coaches, and whether it's Mourinho, [Hansi] Flick, [Manuel] Pellegrini, me, or anyone else, we need to be careful about what we say," he said. "We have to know how to respect others, the referees, our colleagues and we all lose out.
And when someone crosses that line of respect, it's not right - you can't cross that line." Mourinho argued the two first-half decisions had a significant impact on the match, insisting his team had shown character despite the circumstances. The first incident Mourinho referenced involved Real's Jude Bellingham and Atleti's Cristian Romero in the 37th minute, when both players challenged for a loose ball and the clash ended with Bellingham being shown a yellow card. At the time, Mourinho pleaded with the referee for a red card to be shown to the Argentina international for dangerous foul play, because replays showed Romero made contact with his studs on Bellingham's knee.
Bellingham's yellow card was retracted after a video assistant referee review and Romero was given a yellow. The second was for a challenge by Atletico's Lee Kang-in on Fede Valverde, which Mourinho believed should have been a straight red card. The Portuguese also questioned the appointment of the match officials, saying he wanted to believe the decisions were mistakes rather than deliberate.
"I want to believe they are simply mistakes, just as a coach makes mistakes, just as a player makes mistakes," he said. Despite the defeat, Mourinho said he had no complaints about his players' commitment and praised their performance, particularly in the first half. "I liked my team as a unit.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
