Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has criticised Spain’s refereeing committee after Los Blancos 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid in Sunday’s La Liga Madrid derby at the Metropolitano.
The defeat dropped Madrid to third, six points behind unbeaten leaders Barcelona, while Mourinho questioned several refereeing decisions during a contentious derby.
Madrid were unhappy with first-half challenges by Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in on Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde. Mourinho argued that both incidents should have resulted in red cards.
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Real Madrid were later reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Dean Huijsen fouled Giuliano Simeone, conceding a penalty.
Mourinho arrived at his post-match press conference holding a sheet of paper showing images of the incidents he believed were wrongly handled by the officials.
“We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho told reporters.
“They were two clear red cards.”
The Portuguese coach also questioned the appointment of referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias, claiming the official could not cope with the pressure of the derby.
“The ones who should be really happy are the referee appointment committee, because everything was very strange,” Mourinho said.
“They assign a referee who at 41 has never been an international referee, so it’s clearly not because he’s a great referee.”
Mourinho also criticised VAR official Daniel Jesús Trujillo, claiming he had a history with Real Madrid.
“This combination… a referee, poor referee, who has only done tiny little matches, and a VAR official with a big history… well, congratulations to the referee appointment committee,” he said.
