Real Madrid issue furious statement amid extraordinary Jose Mourinho ref rant after derby defeat

Real Madrid launched a scathing attack on the refereeing team that oversaw their 2-1 derby defeat to Atletico Madrid. Alejandro Grimaldo put the hosts ahead with a second-half penalty at the Metropolitano after defender Dean Huijsen was sent off for bringing down Giuliano Simeone.

Jonathan David then doubled Atletico’s lead before Antonio Rüdiger pulled a late goal back as Madrid dropped to fourth in the La Liga table. But just hours after the game concluded in the Spanish capital, Real released a statement that took aim at referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias and described some of the decisions given against them as "catastrophic".

The statement read: “Real Madrid lost at the Metropolitano in a derby marked by the poor officiating of Ortiz Arias, who failed to send off Cuti Romero in the first half for stepping on Bellingham's knee (despite reviewing the play on the monitor) and Kang-In Lee for stepping on Valverde's left ankle. Both decisions shaped the match, which was decided in the second-half in favor of Atletico.

“Until the 30th minute, the game had very few dangerous plays. But from that point on, controversy took over the derby. In the 35th minute, during a contested ball, Bellingham got to the ball before Cuti Romero, and the Atletico defender planted his studs into the left knee of the Madrid player. Ortiz Arias initially booked our player but was called by Trujillo Suarez to review the incident on the monitor.

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“After watching the replay, he rescinded the card from Bellingham and issued a yellow card to the Atletico defender instead of sending him off. Nine minutes later, the referee made another crucial error by not penalizing Kang-In Lee for a challenge on Valverde, where he struck him with his studs on the left ankle. Ortiz Arias was close to the incident but did not show a red card (or even a yellow card) to the Atletico player, nor was he alerted by Trujillo Suarez on this occasion.

“In the 50th minute, Ortiz Arias awarded a penalty against Huijsen for a foul on Giuliano and showed the Madridista a yellow card. After being advised by Trujillo Suarez, he went to review the play on the monitor and this time decided to send off Huijsen. Grimaldo converted the penalty to make it 1-0.

“In the 59th minute, the score became 2-0 after a goal by J. David. In the 76th minute, Madrid had a chance to make it 2-1 with a one-on-one opportunity for Diomande against Oblak, who came out on top.

“However, our team did score in the 89th minute with a header from Rudiger following a free kick taken by Bernardo. From then until the final whistle, Mourinho's side pushed for an equalizer but were unsuccessful.”

While Jose Mourinho began his press conference with pictures of two fouls committed by Atleti players that he said should have been red cards. Mourinho opted to focus on two first-half incidents. The first was was when Cristian Romero was shown a yellow card for treading on Jude Bellingham's knee, while Lee Kang-in escaped punishment for a crunching challenge on Federico Valverde.

"The story of the game is here," Mourinho said. "They're two clear red cards. With the difficulties we had afterwards, with 11 versus 10 (players), 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 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."

He then added: "The penalty at Real Sociedad [for Atletico] is laughable. The penalty for Barcelona is laughable, the non-sending off (for Barcelona) 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."