Real Madrid felt very aggrieved after Sunday’s Madrid defeat derby, and with good reason. Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in both avoided red cards at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano, and in the latter’s case, he should have been dismissed for a challenge on Federico Valverde that is set to keep the Uruguayan midfielder out of action for at least eight weeks .

Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid TV both furiously criticised the refereeing performance of Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias, although Barcelona and Spain midfielder Rodri has now claimed that they were wrong to do so, as per Cadena Cope (via MD ).

“On a football level it was an even match. I think Atlético Madrid were better, more present on the field, he made better decisions, carried the weight of the game and I think he was just deserving of the victory. And then there are actions that could have been taken differently, I think no one denies that. Cuti’s action is a little more difficult because I don’t know if he can take his foot off or not. And maybe in Kang-in’s, which I think he doesn’t bet on, he could get the red card. From there I like to analyse the game in football. I think referees can sometimes make mistakes, but I don’t think they transcend throughout a league of 38 games in that sense.

“I think these comments (from Mourinho and RMTV) hurts football. I think we have to try to avoid that type of discourse, I think football is above it. We are human and we all fail. There are days when you are good and days when you are bad, and there are times when they hurt you and others when they don’t. I like to think like that. It’s okay to defend your club and stand up for your stance – in fact I’ve done that a few times – but to a certain extent. I don’t believe in that part.”

Rodri’s views may have been differently had he been on the RiyadhAir Metropolitano pitch as a Real Madrid player on Sunday. The former Manchester City man was strongly linked with Los Blancos before ending up at Barcelona, and he spoke briefly on the interest that came his way from the Bernabeu.

“Real Madrid showed interest from the first moment, they had an exemplary behaviour, and the proposals were to go for the player, I want to make that clear. I don’t know what it is to go 100%, but it is clear that they had the interest and they went with everything they had showing interest, which I appreciate because I spoke with some of them. Did I talk to Florentino? I’m going to keep that to myself. I spoke to people there who told me the enthusiasm and desire for me to go there and made my decision more complicated.”