The fallout from Real Madrid’s derby defeat at the Metropolitano is still very much alive — and now it has spilled across international week, with Atlético Madrid winger Álex Baena delivering a pointed broadside at Los Blancos boss José Mourinho.
What Happened
Baena didn’t hold back when speaking to reporters after scoring for Spain in their UEFA Nations League win over England on Saturday. The Atlético star took direct aim at Mourinho’s now-infamous post-match press conference following Real Madrid’s defeat in the Madrid derby, saying: “José Mourinho’s post-match press conference? He’s complaining because he lost. When Real Madrid lose, he always looks for excuses instead of focusing on himself. Showing the printed papers was the behaviour of a bad loser.”
Those “printed papers” were the centrepiece of Mourinho’s post-derby theatre. The 63-year-old Portuguese coach walked into his press conference brandishing physical printouts of two challenges he believed should have earned red cards, and proceeded to publicly attack referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias and his officiating team. It was a vintage Mourinho move — confrontational, calculated, and absolutely guaranteed to dominate the headlines — but Baena clearly wasn’t impressed.
What It Means for Real Madrid
From a Madridista’s perspective, this is a double-edged situation. On one hand, nobody at the club wants to see the derby defeat weaponised against them by a rival player on the international stage. On the other, Mourinho’s decision to make the press conference about the officials rather than the performance has handed opponents exactly the kind of ammunition Baena just fired back with.
Mourinho, of course, is no stranger to this dynamic. Throughout his storied managerial career — at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and during his first spell at Real Madrid — he has consistently used post-match media opportunities as a pressure tool, publicly targeting referees and opponents in ways that shift the narrative. Whether you view it as sharp gamesmanship or sore losing tends to depend heavily on which shirt you wear. For Real Madrid supporters, the hope is usually that such theatrics serve a strategic purpose: protecting players, piling pressure on officials ahead of future fixtures, or galvanising the squad. The risk, as this week demonstrates, is that it can backfire when rivals use it to paint Madrid as whiners rather than winners.
The defeat itself stings regardless of what was said afterwards. A derby loss at the Metropolitano is never easy to stomach, and with Diego Simeone’s Atlético always carrying genuine title ambitions, dropping points in that fixture carries real La Liga weight. How Madrid bounce back from here — in terms of results and composure — will say more about this side than anything said in a press conference.
It’s also worth noting that Mourinho returning to the Spanish capital has always promised to be one of the more combustible storylines of the season. He knows La Liga, he knows the derby, and he knows exactly how to play the media game. But managing the narrative is considerably easier when results are going your way. When they’re not, those same media tactics can define you in ways you’d rather avoid.
What’s Next
With the international break now winding down, attention will quickly return to league action — and Real Madrid will be eager to let results do the talking and move the story on from Mourinho’s printout moment. The sooner Los Blancos are back to winning ways in La Liga, the faster this particular controversy fades into the background.
For now, though, Baena’s comments ensure the derby drama has legs well beyond matchday. Expect Mourinho to be asked about it at his next press conference. Whether he takes the bait or lets it pass will be a story in itself.
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