Atletico Madrid Calls Out Mourinho Over Referee Complaints

Atletico Madrid responded to Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho’s post-match press conference, where he presented printouts of refereeing incidents from the Madrid derby.

Mourinho claimed officials missed two red card opportunities for Real in their 2-1 loss at the Wanda Metropolitano on Sunday.

Atletico used their X account to reply. Their first post featured a video of a printer producing a sheet with #StopAcosoArbitralYA, translating to “stop referee harassment now.”

A subsequent post showed a picture of Mourinho at his press conference, reiterating the same message. A third post read: “This year they have a new challenge. Three weeks without League. This season they start very early.”

This is not the first time Atletico has used social media to playfully target rivals, having previously mocked Barcelona over their unsuccessful pursuit of striker Julian Alvarez.

Beyond Mourinho's comments, Real's website published a match report stating the derby defeat was decided by "dreadful refereeing" from Ortiz Arias.

While Mourinho believed the home team should have had two players sent off, a Real player, Dean Huijsen, was dismissed for denying Guiliano Simeone a clear goal-scoring chance.

Alejandro Grimaldo converted the subsequent penalty, and Jonathan David scored six minutes later to give Atleti a 2-0 lead.

Antonio Rudiger pulled one back in the 89th minute, but Real suffered their second LaLiga defeat of the season. Mourinho's team now trails leaders Barcelona by six points.

Mourinho: The match's story is right here

“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho told the media, showing them the printed images on A4 paper.

“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.”

When asked about Mourinho’s refereeing criticism, Atletico manager Diego Simeone stated he respects all opinions.

“I understand that we’re in a privileged position with a lot of public scrutiny, as coaches, and whether it’s Mourinho, [Barcelona manager Hansi] Flick, [Real Betis boss Manuel] Pellegrini, me, or anyone else, we need to be careful about what we say,” Simeone commented.

“We have to know how to respect others, the referees, our colleagues. And when someone crosses that line of respect, it’s not right – you can’t cross that line.”