Armed with evidence! Mourinho pulls out pictures of red-card incidents after Real Madrid derby defeat to Atletico Madrid
By Luke Oluoch, September 21, 2026José Mourinho was in trademark box-office form, bringing two printed photographs of incidents involving red cards he believed should have been given to Atlético Madrid as the Rojiblancos defeated his team 2-1 in a feisty Madrid Derby on Sunday, September 20, 2026.
The Portuguese arrived at the post-match press conference and pulled out the “evidence”, printed photos of the unpunished fouls, before kicking off by telling journalists that they could all save each other time.
Evidence?
The freeze-frame pictures he displayed to journalists included a tackle on Federico Valverde by Lee Kang-in and another from Cristian Romero on Jude Bellingham.
The derby refereeing team, led by Ortiz Arias, only deemed one of the incidents as warranting a caution, which came after Bellingham had initially been cautioned following a heavy coming together with the Argentine defender Romero.
“We can save this press conference ‘cos the story of this match is here… These are two clear red cards. The ref is 41 years old; he has no international matches… He is a poor referee, and he could not handle the pressure,” the Special One stated.
The new gaffer further admitted that his charges faced a tough task playing with ten men against Diego Simeone’s team after Dean Huijsen’s dismissal for obstructing Giuliano Simeone from a clear scoring opportunity.
Hug my players
“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.
“So I will just have to limit myself to hugging my players, who gave it their all and played a first half [that] showed great class and character, setting us up perfectly to win the second half.”
The defeat saw Madrid drop to third on the log, and now trails leaders and back-to-back Barcelona by six points.
The Portuguese latest media charade comes after he produced a vintage press conference following Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat to Real Betis at the Estadio de La Cartuja on Friday, September 4, 2026.
Following the loss to Betis, Mourinho generated instant online chatter due to his signature mix of sarcasm and frustration as he bemoaned the Real Betis players’ antics and gamesmanship.