Real Madrid‘s 2-1 defeat to city rivals Atletico was never going to be taken with good grace by Jose Mourinho.

Alejandro Grimaldo put Atletico ahead with a second-half penalty at the Metropolitano, after defender Dean Huijsen was sent off for bringing down Giuliano Simeone.

Jonathan David made it 2-0, before Antonio Rudiger pulled a late goal back as Madrid dropped to fourth in the table.

Rarely throughout his successful managerial career has Mourinho offered no excuses for a setback. Even crediting the opposition cannot be taken at face value; you’re left wondering what he’s really up to.

He chose to focus on two first-half incidents, where Cristian Romero was shown a yellow card for treading on Jude Bellingham’s knee, while Lee Kang-in escaped punishment for a crunching challenge on Federico Valverde.

And the Madrid boss came to the post-match press conference armed with props to explain how his side had lost.

“The story of the game is here,” Mourinho said, holding up the images of the two challenges. “They’re two clear red cards.

“With the difficulties we had afterwards – with 11 versus 10 [players] – you could imagine what it would have been like [for us] for 50 minutes with 11 versus nine.

“It’s the CTA [the referee’s committee]. It’s all been very strange. It’s a referee [Ortiz Arias] who, at 41, doesn’t have international experience. I don’t know why he was the referee. The poor guy came here and couldn’t cope with the pressure.

“But for [the VAR] there’s no pressure, at [RFEF HQ] Las Rozas there’s no pressure. Or maybe there is and we don’t know… That combination — a poor referee, who’s only done small games, and a VAR with a big history. Congratulations to the CTA.”

Jose Mourinho began his press conference with pictures of two fouls committed by Atleti players that he says should have been red cards. pic.twitter.com/JfP6tn1SEC

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 20, 2026

There’s almost something admirable about the Petluant One’s refusal to accept an iota of responsibility.

As one wag said on Spanish Twitter X, it feels very late-era Mourinho to turn up to a match with a colour printer instead of a midfield.

Using a colour printer at all feels very 2000s, an observation that lends itself to all manner of punchlines.

Nobody told Mourinho to sign Ibrahima Konate, who constantly gave the ball back to Atletico, or persist with the off-colour Aurelien Tchouameni.

As if it wasn’t already signposted enough that the whole press conference was a distraction technique, the Madrid boss continued with his grievences.

“The penalty at Real Sociedad [for Atletico] is laughable,” Mourinho said. “The penalty for Barcelona is laughable, the non-sending off [for Barcelona] against Athletic Club. So many things together.

“I thought I’d find a different league to the one I left [in 2013], and people told me no, and they explained why. But we’ll fight.”

Madrid are now six points behind leaders Barcelona with seven games played, going into the international break.

They’ve already lost to Betis. They probably should’ve lost to Elche. A third season without major silverware isn’t impossible.

It seems like they’ve doubled down on their petulance this year, the knotweed infestation that ruined Xabi Alonso in six months, by re-hiring Mourinho.

“If ‘they’ leave us in peace, and let us compete on an even playing field, there’s a long way left,” Mourinho said, when asked if his team could still fight for the title.

But Madrid increasingly feel anachronistic, railing against the dying of the light, while Barca streak clear playing space-age football.

Mourinho’s stunt was amusing from a distance, but it’s also tinged with the sadness of a man cursed to spend his days as the world’s oldest teenager.

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