Jose Mourinho: Atletico Madrid hit back at Real Madrid boss over referee complaints

It was Real’s second defeat of the season, having lost 1-0 to Real Betis earlier in September.

“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said as he showed media the printed images on sheets of A4 paper on Sunday.

“Those were two clear red cards. Given the difficulties we faced afterwards playing 11 against 10, we can only imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like.

“So I’ll just have to limit myself to hugging my players, who gave it their all and played a first half, showed great class and character, setting us up perfectly to win the second half.”

Simeone, when asked to respond to Mourinho’s refereeing rant, said he was always respectful of everyone else’s opinions.

“I understand that we’re in a privileged position with a lot of public scrutiny, as coaches, and whether it’s Mourinho, [Barcelona manager Hansi] Flick, [Real Betis boss Manuel] Pellegrini, me, or anyone else, we need to be careful about what we say,” he said.

“We have to know how to respect others, the referees, our colleagues. And when someone crosses that line of respect, it’s not right – you can’t cross that line.”