Jude Bellingham's furious message to referee after controversial Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid game not picked up on TV

Jude Bellingham issued a furious message to the referee that wasn’t picked up by TV cameras after Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Atlético on Sunday (September 20).

Diego Simeone’s side edged a fiery Madrid derby, with summer signing Alejandro Grimaldo opening the scoring from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after Real Madrid centre-back Dean Huijsen pulled down Giuliano Simeone in the penalty area, which resulted in the defender being shown a red card.

The home side doubled their advantage six minutes later, this time through Jonathan David, who bagged his third goal in three La Liga games.

Despite Arda Güler, Vinícius Junior and Kylian Mbappé all featuring, none made a positive impact on the game, with second-half substitute Antonio Rüdiger finally pulling one back by heading home Bernardo Silva’s free-kick in the 89th minute.

READ NEXT: Michael Carrick equals abysmal Premier League record at Man Utd as sack claim made

Jose Mourinho calls out officials after Madrid derby

After the clash, several Real Madrid players and head coach José Mourinho were left fuming with referee Ortiz Arias. The Portuguese arrived at his post-match press conference with A4 sheets of paper featuring screenshots of two incidents he believed should have resulted in red cards: Cristian Romero’s challenge on Bellingham and Lee Kang-in’s challenge on Fede Valverde.

“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said as he showed reporters the images.

“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 went on to claim that the two incidents affected the result before questioning the appointment of the match officials.

“I want to believe they are simply mistakes, just as a coach makes mistakes, just as a player makes mistakes,” he said.

It wasn’t just Mourinho who was left enraged, with footage of Bellingham shouting “two reds! Two” at the officials emerging shortly after full-time.

Real Madrid issue statement after Atletico Madrid defeat

Real Madrid later released a scathing statement titled ‘A dreadful refereeing performance decides the derby.’

The club wrote: “Real Madrid lost at the Metropolitano in a derby marked by the poor officiating of Ortiz Arias, who failed to send off Cuti Romero in the first half for stepping on Bellingham’s knee (despite reviewing the play on the monitor) and Kang-In Lee for stepping on Valverde’s left ankle. Both decisions shaped the match, which was decided in the second half in favor of Atlético.

“Until the 30th minute, the game had very few dangerous plays. But from that point on, controversy took over the derby. In the 35th minute, during a contested ball, Bellingham got to the ball before Cuti Romero, and the Atlético defender planted his studs into the left knee of the Madrid player. Ortiz Arias initially booked our player but was called by Trujillo Suárez to review the incident on the monitor.

READ NEXT: Real Madrid issue extraordinary public complaint to La Liga over 'abysmal' Madrid derby incidents

“After watching the replay, he rescinded the card from Bellingham and issued a yellow card to the Atlético defender instead of sending him off. Nine minutes later, the referee made another crucial error by not penalising Kang-In Lee for a challenge on Valverde, where he struck him with his studs on the left ankle. Ortiz Arias was close to the incident but did not show a red card (or even a yellow card) to the Atlético player, nor was he alerted by Trujillo Suárez on this occasion.

“In the 50th minute, Ortiz Arias awarded a penalty against Huijsen for a foul on Giuliano and showed the Madridista a yellow card. After being advised by Trujillo Suárez, he went to review the play on the monitor and this time decided to send off Huijsen. Grimaldo converted the penalty to make it 1-0. In the 59th minute, the score became 2-0 after a goal by J. David. In the 76th minute, Madrid had a chance to make it 2-1 with a one-on-one opportunity for Diomande against Oblak, who came out on top. However, our team did score in the 89th minute with a header from Rüdiger following a free kick taken by Bernardo. From then until the final whistle, Mourinho’s side pushed for an equaliser but were unsuccessful.”

Real sit fourth in La Liga heading into the international break, trailing league leaders Barcelona by six points.

Los Blancos return to action at home against Villarreal on October 10.