He held up two photographs, one of Cristian Romero's stamp on Jude Bellingham and one of Kang-in Lee's tackle on Federico Valverde, and then went further than the derby. Mourinho attacked referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias, the VAR and the referees' committee, and recited a list of complaints he had been building since the start of the season.
“There are things that have been seen in recent weeks... Here, in this stadium, the goal disallowed for Osasuna is laughable; the penalty in San Sebastián is laughable; the Barcelona penalty is laughable; the non-sending-off against Athletic Bilbao with this gentleman who has been very nice [he pointed behind him, referring to Ortiz Arias], with a lad who is a great player... They are all things that have built up.”
The incidents behind it can be traced. On 16 September Osasuna's Iñigo Arguibide had a 29th-minute goal ruled out at the Metropolitano, with Atlético leading 1-0, for a foul by Lucas Torró on Robin Le Normand, and Atletico Madrid went on to win 4-0. Three days earlier, at Real Sociedad, Atlético were awarded an 82nd-minute penalty when the ball struck Job Ochieng's outstretched arm after touching his thigh, and Alejandro Grimaldo scored it in a 3-0 win.
Barcelona feature twice. Mourinho referred to the penalty given for a fall by Lamine Yamal in their 4-2 win at Levante, which drew protests because the contact was slight. He also referred to the Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao game, where Yamal stamped on Aymeric Laporte just before half-time and was not booked. La Liga's referee camera later caught the official, Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias, telling him:
“Listen, that's one hell of a stamp you've given him.”
Ortiz Arias took charge of the derby too. The last entry was the elbow that Elche's Abiel Osorio threw at Dean Huijsen in Tuesday's game at Elche, which went unpunished by referee Jesús Gil Manzano and VAR. Osorio scored later in a 3-2 win for Real Madrid.
Mourinho had hinted at his frustration a week earlier, when he asked in a press conference: “You are not asking me about the penalties? Strange, isn't it?”
At the Metropolitano he dropped the hints. Mourinho said the story of the match was in the pictures he was holding, and he called the two challenges “two clear red cards”, adding, according to RPP, that after his team's struggle with ten men against eleven, he could imagine what 50 minutes of eleven against nine would have looked like.
He also questioned the appointment of a 41-year-old referee who, in his words, had only handled small games, but he stopped short of alleging anything was pre-arranged:
“I don't want to say this was prepared, I want to believe they are making mistakes. That the Committee has made a mistake by putting one who is 41 and another who has a record against Real Madrid.”