Jude Bellingham and Cristian Romero clashed during Sunday's Madrid derby, reigniting their World Cup feud as Atletico Madrid beat Real Madrid 2-1 in an ill-tempered affair at the Metropolitano.
The pair exchanged words throughout the match, with their World Cup semi-final encounter still fresh in the memory. England took the lead that night before Argentina rallied late on, scoring their winner in stoppage time.
Verbal exchanges and accusations
According to Movistar's El Día Después, Bellingham poked fun at Romero, claiming he was less vocal when he didn't have Lionel Messi in his team. He allegedly said: "When you're with [Lionel] Messi, you talk a lot. But here, nothing." Bellingham also called the Argentine a "coward."
Romero responded by calling Bellingham a "cry baby" and mocked the Englishman for cutting an emotional figure, saying: "you cried over there [at the World Cup]."
Contentious incidents and red card appeals
Earlier in the game, Bellingham was on the receiving end of a nasty challenge from Romero, which saw the former Spurs star shown a yellow card despite a VAR review. Real also felt Kang-in Lee should have been shown a red card for his ankle-high challenge on Federico Valverde. They later had Dean Huijsen sent off, which only added to their frustration.
Bellingham was furious at full-time, leading protests against referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias by repeatedly shouting "two red cards, two!" at the official.
Mourinho's criticism and league implications
Mourinho was critical of the officials after the contest, with defeat leaving Los Blancos in fourth and six points off the pace set by Barcelona. He arrived at his post-match news conference carrying an A4 sheet of printed paper with screenshots displaying two incidents he believed should have resulted in Atletico dismissals.
"We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," the Special One said as he showed media the printed 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."
