Simeone answers Mourinho after Madrid derby: “Not everything goes”

Diego Simeone stood on the touchline, hands in his pockets, looking at the stands where Atlético fans were singing his name. It has been 15 years since he arrived in Madrid, and tonight he had an answer for all the doubts, especially for José Mourinho. “Not everything goes,” Simeone said into the microphone, replying to Mourinho’s pre-match message. Behind that sentence lies a declaration about boundaries: between tactical fouls and cards, between emotion and law, between a fleeting victory and a sustainable system.

The Madrid derby is always the most tense laboratory in Spanish football. Real Madrid entered the match with a transition attack that Simeone himself called “incredible.” Atlético, by contrast, had no intention of playing an open game. They dropped deep, sealed the spaces behind the midfield line, and accepted ceding possession while waiting for Real Madrid to lose the ball. The game was not decided by who controlled the ball more, but by who controlled the moment of transition. Simeone said: “We controlled almost all of their transitions. Only one when Cuti and Llorente collided and left Diomande alone.” That sentence is worth more than any possession statistic.

But the referees intervened. There were red cards, and controversial decisions shaped the rhythm. Simeone deliberately refused