Jose Mourinho arrived at his press conference after the 2-1 Madrid derby defeat armed with two printed photographs of what he saw as refereeing errors. The Real Madrid manager launched a scathing attack on the decisions of referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias, insisting that Cristian Romero's foul on Jude Bellingham and Lee Kang-in's challenge on Federico Valverde should both have been punished with red cards. Mourinho was emphatic that the officials had plainly let the opposition off the hook in both incidents.
The derby was a fiercely contested affair. After Dean Huijsen was sent off, Alejandro Grimaldo converted a penalty and Jonathan David struck to put Atletico Madrid ahead, and Antonio Rüdiger's goal was not enough to spare Los Blancos defeat. Atletico wasted little time responding. After the match, the club posted a video on social media under the hashtag #StopAcosoArbitalYA, Spanish for "stop referee harassment now", accusing their city rivals of exerting systematic pressure on referees. The defeat leaves Real Madrid six points behind Barcelona in the La Liga standings.
