Real Madrid left the Metropolitano stadium extremely aggrieved by the officiating in the seventh-round match of the Spanish league, where Atletico won 2-1. The club believes a series of referee decisions during the 90 minutes directly influenced the outcome of the match.
Alejandro Grimaldo scored from a penalty in the 53rd minute, and Jonathan David increased the lead for Diego Simeone's side six minutes later. Real played with ten men after Dean Huijsen was sent off. Antonio Rueda reduced the deficit to 2-1 in the 89th minute, a result that stood until the end of the match.
The criticism focused on two sharp fouls by Baene against Güler at the start of the match, which were not sanctioned with yellow cards. The club objected to the VAR referee Trujillo's decision not to call the main referee to review the dangerous tackle by Kang-in. As an additional argument, they pointed out that referee Munuera Montero had sent off Valverde for a much milder foul against Baene in a previous match.
In the locker room, it was heard after the match: 'They really screwed us over! They sent us a coward to referee!'. Due to the tension and frustration with the referee's decisions, the club's leadership banned players from speaking to the media. There was a fear that someone might say something in the heat of the moment that would later result in punishment.
At half-time, a clash occurred between Rueda and Hjulmand. The situation resulted in the dismissal of Atletico's coach Pablo Vercellone and Pedro Machado, one of Mourinho's assistants. The trigger for the scuffle was a situation where Kang-in did not receive a red card. Referee Ortiz Arias decided to dismiss members of the coaching staff to avoid showing red cards to players. The incident did not escalate further, and Machado eventually apologised to Hjulmand.
The club is convinced that the referee's decisions favoured their direct rivals, Barcelona and Atletico, and that this is one of the reasons for the current standing in the table. As examples, they cite the goal disallowed for Osasuna against Atletico, a penalty awarded to Atletico at the Anoeta stadium, and a penalty against Lamine Yamal in a match against Levante.
Real Madrid players left the derby convinced that they were not the weaker team, as the strength on the pitch was equal. They believe the referees failed to award two direct red cards, one to Cutie Romero for stepping on Bellingham, and the other to Kang-in for the same foul. In Madrid, they believe that with such decisions, the outcome of the derby would have been completely different.
