Jose Mourinho slammed the referee's performance in the Madrid derby, claiming Atletico Madrid should have had two red cards in their 2-1 victory over 10-man Real Madrid.
The turning point in Sunday's derby came in the 52nd minute, when Dean Huijsen was shown a straight red card for a last-man foul on Giuliano Simeone.
Alejandro Grimaldo scored the resulting penalty before Jonathan David doubled their lead, and though Antonio Rudiger pulled a late goal back, it was not enough to salvage a result for Madrid.
Los Blancos generally struggled to trouble Atletico, with a total of 0.32 expected goals (xG), their lowest in a LaLiga game since February 2015 (0.2, also against Atletico).
Tempers boiled over in the tunnel at half-time, with Rudiger and Morten Hjulmand clashing over an incident that saw Lee Kang-In avoid any repercussions for a late foul on Federico Valverde.
Cristian Romero was also shown a yellow card for treading on Jude Bellingham's knee, and Mourinho believes both of those incidents should have resulted in a sending-off.
The Portuguese head coach brought printed-out photos of both to his post-match press conference, laying out all of his issues with the referee – and the VAR.
"The story of the game is here," Mourinho said, holding up the images of the two challenges.
"They're two clear red cards. With the difficulties we had afterwards – with 11 versus 10 – you could imagine what it would have been like [for us] for 50 minutes with 11 versus nine.
"It's the CTA [the referee's committee]. It's all been very strange. It's a referee [Ortiz Arias] who, at 41, doesn't have international experience. I don't know why he was the referee.
"The poor guy came here and couldn't cope with the pressure.
"But for [the VAR] there's no pressure; at [RFEF HQ] Las Rozas, there's no pressure. Or maybe there is, and we don't know…
"That combination – a poor referee, who's only done small games, and a VAR with a big history. Congratulations to the CTA."
Mourinho pic.twitter.com/Brr5wxR8XY
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) September 20, 2026
Madrid confirmed after the match that Valverde "has been diagnosed with severe trauma to his left ankle, suffered during the match", with further tests to follow.
Mourinho admitted he had not seen any replays of Huijsen's red card but hinted that he believes Madrid's rivals, Atletico and Barcelona, have both benefited from refereeing decisions in recent weeks.
"The penalty at Real Sociedad [for Atletico] was laughable," Mourinho added.
"The penalty for Barcelona was laughable, and the non-sending off, against Athletic Club. So many things together…
"I thought I'd find a different league to the one I left [in 2013], and people told me no, and they explained why. But we'll fight."
Madrid, who released a club statement condemning the referee's performance, head into the extended international break fourth in LaLiga and six points behind leaders Barcelona.
They have lost two of their seven league matches so far, compared to a 100% start for the Blaugrana.
When asked if Madrid could still fight for the title, Mourinho said: "If 'they' leave us in peace and let us compete on an even playing field, there's a long way left.
"I don't want to say this was prepared. I want to think they're mistakes, like a coach makes mistakes.
"I want to think the CTA made a mistake and picked a referee of 41, who's never been in this situation. They made a mistake; that's all."
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