Jose Mourinho vs Atletico Madrid: Hypocrisy or total injustice?

After Real Madrid’s 2-1 derby defeat to Atletico Madrid, the Portuguese coach delivered another vintage performance.

He produced printed photographs of two challenges by Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in that he insisted were “two clear red cards,” blamed the refereeing appointments committee, and described the officials as “poor guys” who could not handle the pressure.

Real Madrid backed their manager with an official statement that described the match as “marked by poor officiating.”

The club claimed the referee failed to send off Romero for stepping on Jude Bellingham and Kang-in for a challenge on Federico Valverde, before Dean Huijsen was dismissed early in the second half, leading to Atletico’s decisive penalty.

This latest outrage raises questions of hypocrisy. Mourinho has spent much of his career benefiting from favourable decisions as often as he has suffered from them.

His history with referees is long and confrontational, and he has rarely been shy about using perceived injustice as a shield.

Last season, while in charge of Benfica against Real Madrid in the Champions League, Mourinho himself claimed referees were protecting Los Blancos players.

After being sent off, he insisted the official had a note listing Aurélien Tchouaméni, Álvaro Carreras and Dean Huijsen as players who “could not be shown a yellow card” because they were one booking from suspension.

The Portuguese coach accused the referee of being influenced by the powers of Real Madrid and is now crying foul, which makes you wonder if those powers are on the wane.

The best thing for Jose and his players will be to look inward. Real have started the season inconsistently, relying on late goals to grind out results and avoid dropping more points.

They now sit six points behind a rampant Barcelona side, who seem to be playing a different sport to everyone else, with Raphinha and Lamine Yamal scoring for fun.

While Mourinho’s post-match theatrics generate headlines, the deeper issue remains performance, and they must improve drastically after the international break, if they stand any chance of catching Barcelona.