Atletico hit back at Mourinho for ref criticism after derby defeat

Atletico Madrid have hit back at Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho after his criticism of referees following their derby clash on Sunday; Mourinho held up pictures of refereeing errors in his post-match press conference following 2-1 defeat to rivals

Atletico Madrid have hit back at Real Madrid's criticism of the referring decisions during the derby on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho arrived at the post-match press conference with printouts displaying two incidents he believed should have resulted in red cards to Atletico players.

The former Chelsea manager accused officials of making key errors in the match, which Real lost 2-1.

On Monday, Atletico put two posts on their X account, the first a video showing a sheet of paper being printed with the words '#StopAcosoArbitalYA,' which means "stop referee harassment now".

A second post showed an image of Mourinho at the news conference with the same message.

Mourinho held up pictures of two tackles to the media after Real's defeat.

Mourinho strongly criticised the officials and was angry that Atletico defender Cristian Romero ‌ was not sent off for a stamp on Jude Bellingham .

He also complained about a challenge by Lee Kang-in on Federico Valverde , before the visitors were reduced to 10 men five minutes after half-time.

"We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," ​Mourinho said, holding up the images in what was the start of a near ‌five-minute rant.

"Those were two clear red cards. The difficulties we've faced since the sending-off - 11 against 10 - well, we can imagine what 50 ​minutes of 11 against nine would have been like if justice had been done."

Real defender Dean Huijsen was dismissed for bringing down Giuliano Simeone inside the area as the last defender, allowing Alejandro Grimaldo to ​score with a low spot-kick.

Jonathan David doubled Atletico's lead six minutes later, ⁠with Antonio Rudiger heading in a free-kick late ⁠on to reduce the deficit.

Mourinho said he could only "hug" his players after what he described as a first half "full of class and great character", but he aimed sharp ‌criticism at referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias and those who appointed him.