Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho arrived at his post-match press conference carrying printed out screenshots of two incidents he believed should have resulted in red cards for Atletico Madrid players.
The Portuguese accused the match officials of making key errors following Real's 2-1 defeat, claiming that the hosts should have been reduced to nine men for two first-half incidents.
Defender Dean Huijsen was sent off for Real in the second half following a VAR intervention, with Atleti making the most of their numerical advantage thanks to Alejandro Grimaldo's 53rd-minute penalty and Jonathan David's finish. Antonio Rudiger's header late on was little more than consolation.
Mourinho, no stranger to fiery press conferences and pointing out injustices – perceived or otherwise – went one step further by illustrating his point.
“Right now, we could save ourselves the time of being here at this press conference, because the story of the match is right here ... here in this piece of paper," he said as he held up printouts.
"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."
Mourinho was referring to a clash in the 37th minute involving Real's Jude Bellingham and Atleti's Cristian Romero. Both players challenged for a loose ball, and the clash ended with a yellow card being shown to Bellingham.
At the time, Mourinho pleaded with the officials to show Romero a red card after the Argentine defender's studs caught the knee of Bellingham. Instead, VAR intervened, Bellingham's yellow card was retracted and Romero was issued one instead.
The second contentious incident was for a challenge by Atletico's Lee Kang-in on Fede Valverde, which Mourinho believed should have been a straight red card.
Referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias has come in for criticism for his handling of the match, with Spain's refereeing technical committee saying that Lee should have been shown a red card for his challenge.
The committee did, however, uphold the validity of the red card shown to Real defender Dean Huijsen. Following a VAR review, Huijsen was judged to have pulled back Guiliano Simeone's arm in the penalty area.
Mourinho also questioned the appointment of Arias to officiate such a high-profile game.
"Look, the referee was known a week in advance. That doesn't happen. That information usually comes out just 24 hours before the match," Mourinho said.
"This referee does not have the experience to referee a Madrid derby. He doesn’t even have international games. You know why? Because he is not good.”
The defeat leaves Real Madrid fourth in La Liga, with Atletico second – five points behind league leaders Barcelona.
Yet Mourinho was keen to stress that there was still a long way to go in the season.
"Under normal circumstances, it's not about how it starts, it's about how it ends," he said.
