Referee committee admits Lee Kang-In should have been sent off in Madrid derby

The Madrid derby ended days ago, but the controversy is still alive. Spain's Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) sat down to review the play that generated the most noise in Atletico Madrid's 2-1 win over Real Madrid at the Metropolitano, and the conclusion does not look good for the match official, Miguel Ortiz Arias: Lee Kang-In should have been sent off for his challenge on Federico Valverde.

The incident happened in the first half, with the score still 0-0, and left Valverde with a grade three ankle sprain, an injury that ruled him out of Uruguay's squad for its upcoming friendlies. Despite the severity of the blow, Lee Kang-In did not see any card at the time. For the CTA, there was a "high risk of injury" for the Real Madrid midfielder, and the absence of a straight red was labeled a "clear and obvious error" that the VAR should have corrected but didn't.

The same weekly report also reviewed another contentious play from that first half: the collision between Cristian Romero and Jude Bellingham, in which the Argentine defender stepped on the Englishman's knee. There, the CTA backed what ultimately happened on the field: Bellingham had initially been booked, but after VAR intervention the card was corrected and Romero ended up being the one shown yellow. According to the committee, that video review intervention was correct.

There is a third incident the CTA analyzed that proved decisive to the final result: the sending off of Dean Huijsen. The committee explained that the Real Madrid defender "grabbed the arm" of Giuliano Simeone "with no possibility of playing the ball," and that the decision to show him red, after a VAR review, was correct. That red card led to a penalty that Atletico converted to take the lead.

Mourinho's response

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho held nothing back after the final whistle. He arrived at the press conference with printed photos to back up his claim that both Lee Kang-In and Romero should have been sent off. His anger was aimed squarely at the referee and at the video review system as well.

He couldn't handle the pressure.Jose Mourinho

The Portuguese coach went further and said the VAR has "a significant track record" with his team, hinting that this was not the first time he felt refereeing decisions had hurt his side in a match of this magnitude.

Beyond the controversy, the defeat left Mourinho's Real Madrid in fourth place in LaLiga, six points behind leaders Barcelona after seven matchdays. The CTA's admission of error comes too late to change the result, but it reopens the debate over how much these decisions weigh on the course of a match that can be decided by details as fine as a mistimed challenge or a shirt pull in the box.