Mourinho erupts at Real Madrid, Benfica drawn in: Complained of help... | OneFootball

After Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat in the controversial derby against Atlético, José Mourinho made scathing comments about the match officiating and also aimed criticism at the Referees’ Technical Committee itself for appointing Órtiz Arias to the game. However, in the Spanish press there are already those pointing out that this type of accusation from the former Benfica manager is intended to hide a poor result.

On Tuesday’s front page of Mundo Deportivo, the Special One is prominently featured with the headline "Theatre of Evil". Below it, it reads: "The usual Mourinho is back: he dramatizes refereeing complaints to cover up Madrid’s poor display. Seven months ago, when he was managing Benfica, he complained about referees helping Real Madrid", it says.

This last sentence refers to the post-match flash interview after Benfica - Real Madrid in February this year, in the first leg of the Champions League playoff, in which Mourinho said he already knew that the match referee "had a note saying that Tchouaméni, Carreras and Huijsen could not be shown a yellow card", otherwise they would miss the second leg. "I’ve been on the other side and I know how things work. The referee knew perfectly well who he could book and who he couldn’t," he alleged.

The Catalan newspaper also points to a statistic that should leave José Mourinho worried. After seven La Liga matchdays, Real Madrid are the team that run the fewest kilometres per game. The players have covered an average of 83.46 kilometres per match, well short of the 105.61 kilometres recorded by Martín Anselmi’s Elche, who lead in this category. As for Barcelona, the two-time champions and current outright leaders are second on the list, with 104.64 kilometres.

At this stage, los merengues sit in 4th place in the Spanish league with 21 points, six behind rivals Barça. So far, Mourinho has already suffered two defeats - Betis (1-0) and At. Madrid (2-1) - while the Catalans remain with a 100% winning record.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.