Mourinho Produces Printed Evidence in Derby News Conference
Real Madrid’s press conference at the Metropolitano felt more like a courtroom than the usual post-match routine. Jose Mourinho arrived with an A4 sheet in hand, printed with screenshots from two incidents he felt should have ended in red cards for Atletico Madrid. He held it up before a single question had been asked.
We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here
It was a blunt way to open the press conference. Real Madrid had just lost 2-1 in a derby that always carries extra weight. This was their second defeat of the season. They lost 1-0 away to Real Betis back in September. Two defeats this early will worry some supporters more than others. It is the manner of this loss, and Mourinho’s reaction to it, that will dominate the conversation this week.
Mourinho had made his feelings about the fixture known before kick off too. Our pre-match thoughts ahead of the derby showed a manager already braced for a difficult afternoon against a Simeone side that rarely makes life easy at home. Anyone who watched the full ninety minutes will know Madrid competed for long spells before the game turned on a handful of key moments. Those moments are covered in full in our derby report and player ratings. Mourinho clearly felt they deserved more scrutiny than they received. He wasn’t willing to let the post-match questions pass without making that point first, on paper, in front of the cameras.
Jose Mourinho Defends Players and Decries Refereeing Decisions
Mourinho didn’t stop at holding up the paper. Once the questions began, he explained in detail why he believed two decisions had shaped the result at the Metropolitano.
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.
The arithmetic mattered to him as much as the incidents themselves. Madrid had already been reduced to ten men before Atletico’s winning penalty arrived. Mourinho argued that a stricter reading of the laws would have left Simeone’s side down to nine players for a large chunk of the second half. He didn’t accuse anyone of acting in bad faith. He was careful to frame his complaint around accuracy rather than intent.
I want to believe they are simply mistakes, just as a coach makes mistakes, just as a player makes mistakes
That distinction matters. Mourinho has been through enough press conferences over the years to know the difference between questioning a decision and questioning someone’s integrity. He stayed on the right side of that line here. Once the focus moved away from the officials and onto his own squad, his tone changed completely.
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.
It’s a fair summary of where this Madrid side is right now. They’re capable of excellent spells but not yet consistent enough to see games out against direct rivals. Our second-half performance analysis looked at exactly that pattern earlier this season, and Sunday’s derby fits it uncomfortably well. Mourinho’s players will have heard the praise. They’ll also know results, not sympathy, are what count in a title race.
Diego Simeone Demands Respect Following Fiery Derby Clashes
Diego Simeone took a very different approach in his own news conference. Rather than revisiting individual incidents, Atletico’s manager spoke about the responsibility coaches carry when they discuss referees in public.
I understand that we’re in a privileged position with a lot of public scrutiny, as coaches, and whether it’s Mourinho, [Hansi] Flick, [Manuel] Pellegrini, me, or anyone else, we need to be careful about what we say
He went further, describing respect as something everyone in the game has to protect, not just the officials.
We have to know how to respect others, the referees, our colleagues and we all lose out. And when someone crosses that line of respect, it’s not right – you can’t cross that line.
On the game itself, there was little doubt in his mind about who had deserved the points.
The match I watched was an intense one, where I think we controlled it at all times
There is a familiar pattern to derby week in the Spanish capital. Simeone has usually preferred to let results do the talking rather than trade barbs with the opposite dugout. This felt like another example of that approach, delivered calmly even with a rival manager waving printed evidence a few hours earlier. The BBC Sport report on Mourinho’s post-match comments captured just how differently the two men chose to handle the same result. One turned to paper and frustration, the other to a short lecture on professionalism.
Dissecting the Red Card Decisions and La Liga Standings
The two moments Mourinho pointed to both stemmed from VAR reviews rather than straightforward calls. In the 37th minute, the referee initially showed Jude Bellingham a yellow card, before being sent to the pitchside monitor. After the review, it was Cristian Romero, not Bellingham, who ended up in the book.
The second incident proved far more costly. Dean Huijsen was sent off later in the game, leaving Madrid with ten men and handing Atletico the penalty that decided the derby. Mourinho’s argument, made with paper in hand rather than just words, was that Romero’s earlier challenge should also have produced a red card. His players, he felt, were left to defend a numerical disadvantage that should never have existed in the first place.
None of that changes what’s now in the record books. Madrid sit fourth in La Liga after the defeat, five points behind leaders Barcelona, with Atletico climbing to second. It’s an uncomfortable gap to open up this early in the campaign, though nowhere near a crisis given how condensed the table usually becomes over a full season. Our tactical preview of the rivalry looked at how both managers set their teams up to control the game’s key areas, and much of what unfolded matched that build up.
There is an international break now before Madrid have the chance to respond. La Liga resumes on Friday 9 October. Mourinho will want his players back with the same spirit he praised in the Metropolitano dressing room, minus the decisions that sent him searching for a printer beforehand.
