The four craziest moments from Jose Mourinho's Madrid derby meltdown: Real Madrid boss attacks referees after defeat

Today's Real Madrid defeat to Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano Stadium was not just any old Madrid derby.

Goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Jonathan David gave Atleti a 2-1 victory over their hated cross-town rivals, with Dean Huijsen sent off early in the second half.

The defeat sent Real Madrid tumbling down to third in the La Liga table, with Atleti leap-frogging them into second and Barcelona now six points clear at the top just seven games into the new 2026/27 season.

So, as you can imagine, Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho did not take the defeat kindly. While refusing to call out his players for their indifferent approach to the match, he instead attacked the referees for what he believed to be two clear red cards not given to the home side.

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Craziest moments as Jose Mourinho attacks referees in Madrid derby

Bringing in photos of red card incidents

Jose Mourinho began his extraordinary press conference after the Madrid derby defeat by bringing in a photograph of two incidents he believed should have seen Atletico Madrid players sent off.

"We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," Mourinho said, holding up the split photograph, with one image on top and another on the bottom of the paper. "Those are two clear red cards."

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

The first, and strongest claim, was a challenge by Lee Kang-In on Federico Valverde, where the South Korean appeared to throw his studs onto the shin of the Real Madrid midfielder. It was a thumping challenge, and has reportedly left Valverde out for three weeks with an ankle injury, according to Guillermo Rai of The Athletic.

The other was a stamp by Cristian Romero on Jude Bellingham, one which Bellingham was comically booked for initially, before the yellow card was eventually changed to be on Romero. 

Attacking referees by name

Mourinho would eventually call out the referees by name, making his attacks personal.

He first came after head referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias, who he suggested is a bad referee given he has been in the game for a while and does not have international experience.

"First of all, a week before the game, we already knew who the referee was, when I’m told it is supposed to be 24 hours beforehand," Mourinho said. "A week before, we already knew who the referee was.

"Then they appoint a referee who, at 41, has no international experience... well, it can’t be because he’s a great referee. The poor guy came here and couldn’t handle the pressure. It’s a pressure I call the “pressure of the 1980s,” which you rarely see these days."

He then changed his aim to the VAR official Daniel Jesus Trujillo.

"This Mr. Trujillo has a very extensive history as VAR in Real Madrid games. Just last season, Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey, Osasuna, Girona...

"He’s a VAR with a lot of history. If the poor referee can be described as someone without the experience or stature to come here for a derby, this man has no pressure. Because there, in Las Rozas, there is no pressure."

Invoking the Negreira scandal

Mourinho even went so far as to joke (or was it?) that the Negreira scandal was alive and well. In fairness, he was responding to a question which asked if the league is still tainted by the Negreira case.

"Negreira isn’t there anymore, right? Or is he still there? Oh, if he’s not there, then it’s not tainted by Negreira. If he’s not there anymore..."

Mourinho seemed to even suggest that there was a vendetta against Real Madrid, asking if the match's result was pre-planned.

"If they leave us alone, let us be, and let us compete on equal terms with everyone, there’s a long way to go, a very long way," Mourinho said when asked if the league title was already out of reach. I don’t want to go so far as to say that this is something that was planned. I don’t want to think that. I want to think that they simply made mistakes, just as a coach or a player can make mistakes."

Backing his players

Jose Mourinho is a master at removing the heat off his players after a poor performance and stealing the spotlight for himself.

That's exactly what happened here, and we can tell because Mourinho began his presser insisting that he was thrilled with his players for the performance.

"All I can do is hug my players," Mourinho said, "because they gave everything. They had a first half of great quality and personality. We could have won the game perfectly well in the second half."

That's a curious assessment of the match indeed, because many of his players were criticized for a very poor performance. Indeed, only Jude Bellingham had a commendable game. One individual who struggled in particular was Vinicius Jr, who was woeful until being hooked before the hour mark, a rarity for the Brazilian.

Yet Mourinho successfully deflected the criticism that could have been leveled at the players and instead made the focus about the referees.

Who were the referees in the Madrid derby?

The head referee for the La Liga match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid at the Metropolitano on September 20 was Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias.

It is the first time in La Liga history that a referee from the Spanish capital officiated a Madrid derby. In his seventh top-flight season, Ortiz Arias follows in his own footsteps from last season when he also refereed another Madrid derby between Rayo Vallecano and Getafe.

Back in the 2021/22 season, Ortiz Arias was selected as the top referee in La Liga, awarded as such by Marca in his first top-flight season.

The VAR official for the match was Daniel Jesus Trujillo. The 43-year-old has been refereeing top-flight games since 2016, but retired from on-field refereeing after the 2023/24 season, becoming a full-time VAR official.