Atletico Madrid mock Mourinho with a printed sheet: “Stop harassing referees”

The Madrid derby at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano yesterday afternoon ended in huge controversy. Atletico won 2-1 through a penalty from Grimaldo and a third straight goal from David. Rudiger's stoppage-time header made no difference. The biggest flashpoints came in the first half, when both the referee and VAR failed to act over obvious fouls by Romero and Kang-In Lee.

Atletico's response - At the post-match press conference, José Mourinho arrived with two sheets showing the fouls in question and accused the match referee of being: "A poor guy who has refereed modest matches." Atletico did not wait long to respond. A few minutes ago, they posted a video on social media showing a printer producing a sheet with Mourinho's face on it and an unequivocal message: "Stop harassing referees now."

The reference - Atletico's social media team knew exactly what they were doing. At the end of the match at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, decided by Grimaldo's converted penalty and former Juve player Jonathan David, Mourinho had appeared in the press conference with one of his trademark stunts, showing journalists printed sheets with photos of two alleged red-card fouls that the referee did not punish, challenges by Cuti Romero and Kang-in Lee. "We could skip the press conference, the whole story of the match is here," said the Real Madrid manager, furious over Dean Huijsen's sending off at the start of the second half. The colchoneros, no strangers to this kind of social media response, as shown by the summer transfer case involving Julian Alvarez and Barcelona, used the same device as the Special One, the printer, to call for an end to the constant pressure on referees.