'Poor guys' — Mourinho identifies main culprits for Atletico defeat

The Madrid boss believes the referees shoulder all the blame for the potentially costly defeat in the derby.

Los Blancos were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Dean Huijsen was shown a red card for a last-man foul on Giuliano Simeone inside the box.

Alejandro Grimaldo converted the resulting penalty, and Jonathan David later added a second for the hosts. Antonio Rüdiger headed a late consolation for Mourinho’s side, but it proved too little, too late.

Speaking afterwards, Mourinho launched a scathing attack on the refereeing performance.

“Poor Refereeing Committee, they made a mistake, poor guys,” he said.

“They combine a young, inexperienced referee with a VAR referee that has many stories against us. Poor guys, they made a mistake; that’s it, right? I won’t say what happened today was prepared, right? It’s only a mistake, right?”

The Portuguese coach also claimed Atletico should have been reduced to nine men in the first half, insisting Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in both deserved red cards for challenges on Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde, respectively.

"He even brought printed images of the incidents into his press conference to emphasise his point.

Real Madrid later released an official statement echoing their manager’s frustration, describing the defeat as “marked by the poor officiating” of referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias.

The result leaves Mourinho’s side six points behind leaders Barcelona after suffering their second La Liga defeat of the season.