Jose Mourinho took a pointed swipe at the referees who took charge of Sunday’s Madrid derby, brandishing printed photos of what he perceived to be red-card-worthy tackles in his post-match press conference.
Mourinho, now in his second stint with Real Madrid, tasted bitter defeat to cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid, losing 2-1 after Jonathan David and Alejandro Grimaldo’s second-half goals cancelled out Antonio Rudiger’s late consolation.
Real finished the match with ten men, though, after the former Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen was dismissed for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Mourinho, though, felt Atletico deserved at least one sending-off themselves.
He raged at two incidents which went unpunished, the first coming as Lee Kang-In stamped on Federico Valverde, catching him with his studs high on the calf. A club statement later confirmed Valverde had suffered “a severe injury to his left ankle.”
The second came as ex-Tottenham bruiser Cristian Romero appeared to get away with a stamp on the sliding Jude Bellingham, for which he escaped with a booking following a VAR review.
Mourinho, never one to bite his tongue, came out with all guns blazing in the press conference, brandishing printed photographs of both incidents as he questioned why neither constituted a red card.
“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here. Those are two clear red cards,” he said, before holding up the printed picture of Romero and Lee’s offences. “Imagine if it had been [Atletico’s] nine against [Real’s] 11.”
Watch: Mourinho calls out referees with printed photos of missed fouls
Jose Mourinho began his press conference with pictures of two fouls committed by Atleti players that he says should have been red cards. pic.twitter.com/JfP6tn1SEC
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 20, 2026
Mourinho continued, describing referee Ortiz Arias as “a 41-year-old without international experience. I don’t want to go further and say it’s premeditated but that the refereeing committee have made a mistake.”
The veteran Portuguese manager, formerly of Chelsea and Tottenham, was not alone in his ire. The match report published on Real’s official website and social media channels was headlined: “A terrible refereeing performance decides the derby.” Its top line branded the referee Arias “abysmal.”
England star Bellingham was also left fuming and was seen shouting at the officials from a distance as he left the Metropolitano pitch at full-time.
The defeat leaves Real fourth in La Liga after seven matches, one point behind second-placed Atletico and six adrift of runaway leaders Barcelona. They will host Villarreal when the league reconvenes after the international break.
