Atletico Madrid have fired back at Real Madrid following a turbulent weekend in La Liga, responding directly to Jose Mourinho’s extraordinary refereeing complaints after Sunday’s fiery Madrid derby.
The fierce cross-town clash at the Metropolitano ended in a 2–1 victory for Atletico, but the post-match headlines were entirely dominated by refereeing controversy, a fiery five-minute media rant from the Real Madrid manager, and a subsequent social media war of words between the two capital clubs.
Mourinho arrived at the post-match press conference carrying physical printouts displaying photographs of two contentious first-half incidents. The former Chelsea manager claimed that both challenges should have resulted in straight red cards for Atletico players, fundamentally altering the trajectory of a match that ultimately swung in the hosts’ favor after the interval.
By Monday, Atletico Madrid had wasted little time in hitting back at their rivals. The club published two separate posts on their official X account. The first featured a short video showing a sheet of paper emerging from a printer, emblazoned with the hashtag ‘#StopAcosoArbitalYA,’ which translates directly to "stop referee harassment now." A second post featured an image of Mourinho holding his printouts during his press conference, accompanied by the exact same pointed hashtag.
What Happened on Sunday?
The friction of the derby centered on a series of critical judgment calls made by referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias during a tense first half. Mourinho was left incandescent that Atletico defender Cristian Romero escaped a red card for a studs-up challenge on midfielder Jude Bellingham, and that teammate Lee Kang-in avoided punishment for a similarly aggressive tackle on Federico Valverde.
Placing the physical photographs on the desk in front of the assembled media, Mourinho made his feelings crystal clear right from the opening moments of his briefing.
"We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," Mourinho declared, holding up the images as he launched into an extended tirade. "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."
The match dynamics shifted irrevocably early in the second half. Five minutes after the restart, Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen was shown a red card for bringing down Giuliano Simeone inside the penalty area as the last defender. Alejandro Grimaldo stepped up and converted the resulting low spot-kick to break the deadlock.
Just six minutes later, Jonathan David doubled Atletico’s advantage, leaving Real Madrid facing a mountain to climb. Although veteran defender Antonio Rudiger managed to head in a late free-kick to reduce the deficit, it proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
Despite the defeat, Mourinho praised the spirit of his squad, stating that he could only "hug" his players after a first half he described as being "full of class and great character." However, his sharpest criticism was reserved for referee Ortiz Arias and the governing bodies responsible for his appointment.
"They’ve put a referee, aged 41, with no international experience—it’s certainly not because he’s a great referee," Mourinho argued. "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."
When pressed by reporters about Real Madrid now sitting six points behind league leaders Barcelona, Mourinho offered a defiant response regarding the title race and the wider officiating landscape in Spanish football.
"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… I want to believe that they simply made a mistake."
‘A Derby Marked by Poor Officiating,’ Say Real Madrid
Mourinho’s sentiments were immediately echoed and formalized by the club itself. Real Madrid released an official match report shortly after the final whistle, asserting that the derby outcome was heavily compromised by inadequate officiating.
The official statement claimed that the defeat at the Metropolitano was "marked by the poor officiating of Ortiz Arias, who failed to send off Cuti Romero in the first half for stepping on Jude Bellingham’s knee (despite reviewing the play on the monitor) and Kang-In Lee for stepping on Valverde’s left ankle."
The club argued that both crucial decisions directly shaped the match, which was ultimately decided in Atletico’s favor after the break. According to Real Madrid’s detailed breakdown of the timeline, the game had been tightly contested with very few clear-cut scoring opportunities during the opening half-hour before controversy took center stage.
In the 35th minute, during a contested ball, Jude Bellingham beat Cristian Romero to possession, only for the Argentine defender to plant his studs directly into the left knee of the England international. Referee Ortiz Arias initially cautioned Bellingham before being summoned to the pitchside monitor by VAR official Trujillo Suarez. After reviewing the replay, the referee rescinded the card given to Bellingham and instead issued a yellow card to Romero, opting against a dismissal.
Real Madrid’s report highlighted a second major flashpoint nine minutes later. The club asserted that the referee made another vital error by failing to penalize Lee Kang-in for a challenge on Federico Valverde, in which the South Korean midfielder caught the Uruguayan on the left ankle with his studs. The statement noted that Ortiz Arias was positioned close to the incident but chose not to issue a red or even a yellow card, nor was he advised to review the play by the VAR team.
With both clubs trading public jabs through social media campaigns and official statements, the fallout from this latest fiery Madrid derby looks set to linger across Spanish football for weeks to come as the race at the top of La Liga intensifies.