The referee's report, quoted by EFE, records both men being dismissed in the 45th minute “for confronting a member of the opposing technical staff in the dressing-room tunnel, once the first half had finished, provoking a collective confrontation between players and technical staff of both teams”. It lists Machado under the name Pedro Luis Ferreira.
Marca reported that Antonio Rüdiger and Morten Hjulmand squared up in the tunnel and that the row spread to several members of the coaching staff. Neither started the game, with Rüdiger coming on in the 54th minute and Hjulmand in the 85th. Vercellone and Machado could not take their places on the benches for the second half.
The tension had been building for most of the first half. Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone was booked in the sixth minute, and Real Madrid were angry about two challenges that went unpunished.
Cristian Romero was only shown a yellow card for a stamp on Jude Bellingham, while Kang-in Lee's tackle on Federico Valverde in the 42nd minute brought a foul but no card and was not sent to VAR. Real Madrid later said Valverde had suffered a severe trauma to his left ankle.
The game then turned on a single passage of play after the restart. Dean Huijsen was sent off for pulling back Giuliano Simeone inside the area, first shown a yellow card by referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias and then a red after a VAR review.
Alejandro Grimaldo scored the penalty in the 53rd minute and Jonathan David added a second in the 59th, before Rüdiger pulled one back for Real Madrid late on in a 2-1 Atlético win.
José Mourinho arrived at his press conference with two photographs, of the Romero and Lee challenges, and said the story of the match was contained in them. Real Madrid do not play again until 10 October, when they host Villarreal, and Spanish reports put Valverde's absence at two to three weeks if further tests rule out a bigger injury.