Atletico Madrid Hit Back at Jose Mourinho Over Referee Complaints
BBC Sport journalist Jude Winter reports:
Atletico Madrid have responded to Jose Mourinho's post-match accusations about refereeing with a scathing social media post.
Following Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat by Atletico in the La Liga derby, Mourinho alleged that two red cards should have been given to Atletico players in the first half. He demonstrated his points with printed screenshots during a news conference.
On Monday, Atletico posted twice on their X account, criticizing Mourinho and highlighting their discontent with the refereeing decisions. The posts, which received over two million views within hours, included a video of a printer spitting out a sheet reading "#StopAcosoArbitralYA" (meaning "stop referee harassment now") alongside a picture of Mourinho at his news conference.
This follows Atletico's summer ridiculing Barcelona's pursuit of their star player, Julian Alvarez, on social media.
Mourinho's side suffered their second defeat of the season, having lost 1-0 to Real Betis earlier this month. The match report on Real Madrid's website also criticized the officiating, attributing the loss to "dreadful refereeing" by Ortiz Arias.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone responded respectfully when asked about Mourinho's remarks:
"I understand that we're in a privileged position with a lot of public scrutiny... We need to be careful about what we say and respect others, the referees, our colleagues."