Atletico Madrid have responded to Jose Mourinho after the Real Madrid manager criticised refereeing decisions following his side’s 2-1 defeat in the Madrid derby.
Mourinho arrived at his post-match press conference with printed screenshots of two incidents involving Atletico players which he believed should have resulted in red cards.
Holding up the images to reporters, the Portuguese manager argued that Real Madrid could have played the second half against nine Atletico players had the decisions gone in their favour.
“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said while displaying the screenshots.
“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.”
Atletico responded on Monday through their official X account with a pointed message directed at Mourinho and the wider debate surrounding refereeing.
The club first posted an image of a sheet of paper emerging from a printer bearing the hashtag #StopAcosoArbitralYA, which translates as “stop referee harassment now”.
Atletico later shared an image of Mourinho holding the screenshots during his press conference, again accompanied by the same message.
The post attracted more than two million views on X within two hours, according to BBC Sport.
The Spanish club have previously used their social-media platforms to respond to rivals, including during Barcelona’s pursuit of Atletico forward Julian Alvarez.
Mourinho’s criticism followed Real Madrid’s second defeat of the season, after they previously lost 1-0 to Real Betis in September.
Real Madrid’s own match report also attributed the defeat partly to what it described as “dreadful refereeing”.
Atletico head coach Diego Simeone, however, called on Mourinho and other managers to exercise restraint when discussing referees and fellow coaches.
“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 said.
“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.”
Despite the defeat, Mourinho praised his players for their performance, particularly their display in the first half, saying they had shown “great class and character”.
The exchange has added further controversy to the latest Madrid derby after Atletico secured a 2-1 victory over their city rivals.
