Atletico Madrid have responded sharply 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, arguing that both should have resulted in red cards.
Holding up the images for reporters, the Portuguese coach suggested that Real Madrid could have played the second half against nine opponents had the decisions gone their way.
“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said as he displayed 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 the following day through their official X account, appearing to take aim at Mourinho’s complaints while also addressing the wider debate over treatment of match officials.
The club first posted an image of a sheet of paper coming out of a printer with the hashtag #StopAcosoArbitralYA, which translates as “stop referee harassment now”.
A second post featured an image of Mourinho holding the screenshots during his press conference, again accompanied by the same message.
According to BBC Sport, Atletico’s posts attracted more than two million views on X within two hours.
The Spanish club have previously used social media to respond to rivals and other developments, including during Barcelona’s pursuit of Atletico forward Julian Alvarez.
Mourinho’s criticism came after Real Madrid suffered their second defeat of the season. They had previously lost 1-0 to Real Betis earlier in September.
Real Madrid’s own match report also criticised the officiating, describing it as “dreadful refereeing”.
Atletico head coach Diego Simeone, however, called for greater restraint from managers 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.
He added that coaches had a responsibility to maintain respect when speaking about officials and their colleagues.
“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 showed “great class and character”.
The exchange has added another talking point to a heated Madrid derby in which Atletico secured a 2-1 victory over their city rivals.
