Atletico Madrid Beat Real Madrid in Controversial Madrid Derby

Atletico Madrid claimed the bragging rights in the Spanish capital after beating Real Madrid 2–1 at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Sunday. Alejandro Grimaldo and Jonathan David scored for Diego Simeone’s side, while Antonio Rüdiger grabbed a late consolation for Real Madrid. But the result tells only part of the story, as several refereeing decisions became major talking points in a heated Madrid derby.

As It Happened

The first half was physical and tense, with little attacking football. Real Madrid had Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr. and Jude Bellingham in attack, but the home team did an excellent job of limiting their opportunities. Neither side created many clear chances before half-time.

However, two incidents involving Atletico players created controversy.

The first involved Cristian Romero and Bellingham. Bellingham was initially shown a yellow card after the two challenged for the ball, but VAR asked referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias to review the incident. After checking the monitor, the referee cancelled Bellingham’s booking and instead showed Romero a yellow card for his challenge. Real Madrid believed the Atletico defender should have been sent off.

There was another controversial moment shortly before half-time when Lee Kang-in caught Federico Valverde with a heavy challenge. No card was shown. Real Madrid again believed the challenge deserved a red, and reports after the match said Spain's refereeing authorities considered the failure to dismiss Lee an error.

The match changed completely shortly after the restart. Giuliano Simeone raced onto a long ball and got behind the Real Madrid defence. Dean Huijsen pulled him back inside the penalty area. The referee awarded Atletico a penalty, and after a VAR review Huijsen was shown a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Grimaldo stepped forward and converted the penalty to put Atletico ahead in the 53rd minute. Suddenly, Real Madrid were both a goal and a player down. Only six minutes later, Giuliano Simeone delivered a low cross into the area and Jonathan David finished it to make it 2–0.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid refused to give up. Rudiger finally gave the visitors some hope in the closing minutes, heading Bernardo Silva’s cross past Jan Oblak. The goal made it 2–1, but there was not enough time for another comeback. Atletico held on to secure an important derby victory.

After the match, Jose Mourinho focused heavily on the refereeing. He argued that Romero and Lee should both have been sent off during the first half. Mourinho said, "We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is here (shows two photos). They were two clear red cards. The difficulties we had playing eleven against ten, we can only imagine what it would have been like for fifty minutes with eleven against nine. Therefore, I must limit myself to embracing my players, who gave everything and played a very classy and confident first half."

For Real Madrid, the frustration will be very different. Huijsen’s dismissal clearly changed the situation, but Mourinho’s side had also struggled to create chances while the teams were still playing 11 against 11.