Mourinho blasts referee and VAR after Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss at Atletico

MADRID (AP) — José Mourinho was back to his old self on Sunday, lashing out at the refereeing following 10-man Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss at Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league.

Mourinho took a piece of paper with photos to the post-match news conference, saying there were “two clear red cards” that weren’t shown to Atletico players. The Madrid coach then spent nearly five minutes complaining of “strange” things that have happened to his team this season and in the past.

“We could skip the news conference, because the story of the match is right here (on the photos),” Mourinho said. “Given the difficulties we faced playing 11 against 10, one can only imagine what it would have been like to play 50 minutes at 11 against nine. So I’ll simply embrace my players.”

Mourinho and Madrid wanted red cards for Atletico’s Cristian “Cuti” Romero and Lee Kang-in for hard fouls on Madrid players. Madrid ended playing nearly all of the second half with 10 men after Dean Huijsen was sent off in the 52nd minute. Atletico scored in the 53rd and 59th minutes to move past Madrid in the standings. Madrid’s lone goal came late.

Mourinho was upset with the pick of “this poor referee,” Ortiz Arias, for the Madrid city derby. He said “those who should be happy, aside from the Atletico fans, are those in the refereeing committee.”

“It’s all been very strange,” Mourinho said. “First of all, the referee was known a week before the match, but I’m told that’s usually announced just 24 hours in advance. Then he is a 41-year-old referee who isn’t on the international list, so it can’t be because he’s a great referee. The poor guy came here and couldn’t handle the pressure.”

Mourinho also didn’t like how VAR allegedly acted against Madrid.

“The VAR official, he called the referee over for the first red card, though I don’t think he did so for the second, which was an even clearer case than the first, and he has quite a track record in the VAR in Real Madrid matches,” Mourinho asserted. “Last season alone, there was the Real Sociedad match in the Copa del Rey, and then there was Osasuna and Girona. This is a VAR with a lot of history.”

Until now, the veteran and often outspoken coach had been showing a calmer version of himself after returning for his second stint with Madrid.

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“I would have liked to leave here today with a victory, without having to talk about this. I’ve been here for three months now, and I think you’ve all seen that I haven’t usually gone in this direction,” Mourinho said. “Two red cards against Elche and we still won, but two red cards today is a bit more difficult. This combination: a poor referee who has only officiated small games and a VAR official with a long history. Congratulations to the referees’ committee.”

Atletico coach Diego Simeone called for respect from coaches while reacting to Mourinho’s comments.

“We all lose sometimes,” Simeone said, “but you can’t cross the line of respect, regardless if your name is Mourinho, (Hansi) Flick or Simeone.”

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here