The Real Madrid meltdown after losing the derby against Atletico Madrid has continued after they made claims that the referee was friends with Lamine Yamal.

Madrid lost their local derby 2-1 away at the Metropolitano. But you would be forgiven for forgetting what the scoreline even was, such has been the toys out of the pram reaction from almost everyone associated with the club.

It began with Jose Mourinho who proved he has not mellowed at all despite reaching the age of 63 as he turned up to the press conference with printed out pictures of challenges he claimed should have been a red card.

Now if you could somewhat forgive Mourinho for being hot under the collar so soon after a match, it is harder to find any sympathy for what came afterwards.

Plenty of clubs have in-house TV channels which usually do some mild post-match reaction, but Madrid have weaponised theirs.

Last year, they took aim at La Liga referees who they suggested had cost them the title and seven weeks into the new season, they have shown it is a theme they will be continuing with.

Madrid found a way to blame referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias for the defeat with host Alvaro de la Lama saying the man with the whistle was “a friend of Lamine Yamal.”

Of course, there has been no actual evidence that there is any connection at all with the Barcelona star.

But why let the truth ruin a good conspiracy theory? Mourinho joined in on the referee bashing too, suggesting that Ortiz Arias did not have the experience needed to manage a derby.

“The referee didn’t have the experience to officiate a derby,” Mourinho said. “He’s 41 years old. He’s a mediocre referee who has only handled small-time matches. Congratulations to the refereeing committee on this appointment.”

While it was Ortiz Arias’ first time refereeing Madrid, he is hardly new to the job. He became a La Liga referee in 2021 and has taken charge of 98 league games.

Real Madrid TV continued to disgrace themselves by suggesting “the only thing we need now is for LaLiga to allow Real Madrid’s rivals to play the match against us with weapons.”

Even Real Madrid’s official website could not help but embarrass themselves, publishing their match report with the headline “A dreadful refereeing performance decides the derby.”

The first line read: “Madrid loses a match influenced by the decisions of Ortiz Arias, who in the first half spared red cards for Romero and Kang-In Lee.”

They then say Romero “planted his studs into the left knee” of Jude Bellingham. And while Romero definitely fits into the category of “can believe him doing that” even his harshest critic should be able to realise that he caught Bellingham on the leg after rolling over the ball.

It’s also worth noting that Madrid’s official highlights of the game did not include any replays of those incidents so perhaps they were not so sure after all.

You then have to go until the final paragraph for it to even say who scored the goals.

El Chiringuito, who are well versed in the art of embarrassing yourself in public, also piled in, saying the referee committee should apologise for the errors. Presumably that’s got Pro Ref saying “hey, that’s our thing.”

Regardless of Madrid’s complaining, Atletico did in fact win the derby to move up to second, ahead of their city rivals. Meanwhile Madrid’s crying will presumably go on through the entirety of the international break. Stay classy.

READ NEXT: The 10 youngest players to play for Barcelona & Real Madrid as JJ Gabriel eyes Spain move…

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Real Madrid’s top scorers in La Liga since 2000?