Mourinho arrived at his post-match press conference with images of two first-half tackles involving Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde, arguing that both Atletico challenges deserved red cards.

"We could skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here," Mourinho said as he held up the images.

"Those were two clear red cards. The difficulties we've faced since the sending-off. Eleven against 10. Well, we can imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like if justice had been done."

Real Madrid were reduced to 10 men five minutes into the second half when Dean Huijsen brought down Giuliano Simeone inside the penalty area as the last defender.

Alejandro Grimaldo converted the resulting penalty before Jonathan David doubled Atletico's lead six minutes later. Antonio Rudiger gave Real hope with a late header, but Atletico held on for the victory.

Mourinho praised his players for their first-half display but was highly critical of referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias.

"They've put a referee, aged 41, with no international experience – it's certainly not because he's a great referee," Mourinho said.

"Then the poor chap has come here and hasn't been able to cope with the pressure – and it really is intense pressure."

Real's defeat left them six points behind leaders Barcelona, but Mourinho insisted his team could still challenge if they were allowed to compete fairly.

"If they just leave us in peace and let us compete on a level playing field with everyone else, we've still got a long way to go," he said.

"I don't want to go so far as to say this was set up... I want to believe that they simply made a mistake."

Atletico coach Diego Simeone urged Mourinho and other managers to be careful with their comments.

"Whoever is speaking – be it me, Mourinho, Hansi Flick or Manuel Pellegrini, anyone – we have to be careful what we say," Simeone said.

"When you step outside the bounds of respect, whoever you are, it's not on. You can't cross that line."

Simeone instead focused on Atletico's performance, saying his side had controlled the match both before and after Huijsen's dismissal.

"Today we saw a great match; we defended very well against a team that plays very well," he said.

"We controlled the match when it was 11 against 11. We continued to control it when it became 10 against 11."

The result lifted Atletico above Real Madrid into second place on 16 points, five behind Barcelona.

Real Madrid's next La Liga fixture is against Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabeu on 10 October.

Ghana international Thomas Partey moves to Saudi Pro League