José Mourinho blamed referees for Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid on Sunday, producing evidence of tackles he believed should have resulted in red cards. This prompted La Liga president Javier Tebas to defend the officials against accusations of institutional bias, refuting suggestions that referees should favour Madrid based on commercial considerations. The exchange highlights ongoing tensions around perceived partiality in Spanish football refereeing, with Real Madrid subsequently accusing Tebas of being partial and calling for leadership committed to genuine neutrality.

Mourinho presented screen-grabs of two Atlético tackles at his post-match press conference and claimed officials were biased against Madrid. Tebas responded to an opinion piece in Spanish publication El Debate that had suggested referees were damaging the league by not pandering to Madrid, with Tebas arguing that refereeing decisions should never be based on revenue, viewership, or a team's commercial value. However, by targeting the opinion piece rather than Mourinho's comments directly, Tebas potentially left himself vulnerable to accusations of favouritism towards Madrid.