Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho strongly protested referee decisions after a 2-1 defeat in the Spanish La Liga Madrid derby.
During the official post-match press conference held locally today, Mourinho raised his voice while holding up a printed photo of Atletico Madrid's Lee Kang-in stepping on Federico Valverde's ankle from behind in the 44th minute of the first half.
He argued that it was a foul dangerous enough to warrant a straight red card, yet the referee did not even pull out a yellow card.
Mourinho further mentioned an incident from the 37th minute of the first half where Cristian Romero struck Jude Bellingham's knee, which only resulted in a yellow card. He fiercely criticized the referee's lack of experience, stating, "Those were two clear red cards," and "If we had played 11 against 9 for 50 minutes, the result would have been different."
The club-level backlash continued as well.
Real Madrid posted a photo of Lee's tackle on its official social media along with the text, "The worst referee decided the outcome," and reported the news of Valverde's ankle injury.
With the scene revealed on the club account, which has over 180 million followers, angry Real Madrid fans have flocked to Lee's personal social media to leave criticizing comments such as, "Aren't you going to apologize to Valverde?"
On the other hand, Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone fired back at Mourinho, saying, "Everyone must be cautious with their remarks, and they must not cross the line of respect."
Lee started in the controversial match, orchestrating the attack with threatening shots and crosses for 89 minutes to lead his team to a 2-1 victory.
Lee proved his presence on the pitch by even serving as the springboard for the additional goal in the 14th minute of the second half.
(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Seo Byeong-wook | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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