Jose Mourinho will not lose a match on the touchline for what he said after Sunday’s derby at the Estadio Metropolitano. The referees’ association AESAF, working alongside the legal team of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), deliberated through Monday before deciding not to file a complaint with the Spanish Football Federation’s Disciplinary Committee.
Had the case gone forward, the Portuguese coach could have faced a four-match suspension and a fine of between €601 and €3,005.06.
Atletico Madrid had already made their own move a day earlier, posting an image of Mourinho at his press conference on the club’s official X account with the caption “Stop referee harassment now.”
What Mourinho said in the media room
Mourinho walked into the Metropolitano press room on Sunday with printed pictures of two first-half incidents he wanted to walk reporters through. Atletico defender Cristian Romero was booked rather than sent off for stepping on Jude Bellingham’s knee, and Lee Kang-in escaped punishment for a hard challenge that eventually forced Federico Valverde off.
“The story of the game is here. They’re two clear red cards,” Mourinho told reporters.
“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.”
He then questioned why the referee, Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias, a 41-year-old without international status or a track record in matches of this scale, had been handed the derby. He also went after the VAR official, Daniel Trujillo Suarez.
“The poor guy came here and couldn’t cope with the pressure,” Mourinho said of Ortiz Arias.
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Real Madrid lost the game 2-1. Alejandro Grimaldo scored from the penalty spot and Jonathan David added the second for Atletico. Antonio Rudiger pulled one back.
Simeone answered him first
Diego Simeone did not wait for a union statement to hit back. Speaking after the final whistle, the Atletico coach hit back at Mourinho.
“Not everything goes, even for Mourinho,” he said.
Atletico followed with the “Stop referee harassment now” post the next day.
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Camp Nou looms
The referees’ union had been weighing whether to push the case to the federation before backing off. According to Mundo Deportivo, cited by Goal, AESAF and the CTA’s lawyers judged that the language did not clear the bar for a formal complaint.
Mourinho, who took charge on 13 July 2026 on a three-year deal, keeps a clean disciplinary sheet heading into the season’s first Clasico. Real Madrid travel to Camp Nou on Sunday 25 October, with kick-off at 9pm local time.
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