playGabriele MarcottiSep 21, 2026, 02:01 AM ETCloseGabriele Marcotti is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @Marcotti.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsThe last European soccer weekend is in the books before the three-week international break has been and gone, and we have a lot to talk about. We’ll begin in LaLiga with the biggest game of the weekend: the Madrid derby. Jose Mourinho is back on the sideline for Real Madrid and we got a game that had a throwback feel, with fouls, a red card and contentious refereeing decisions overshadowing a 2-1 win for Atletico Madrid that ultimately helps Barcelona — whose 3-1 victory at Sevilla takes them five points clear after just seven games — most of all.The big shock in the Premier League was Brighton’s masterful 3-0 drubbing of defending champs Arsenal, a game that was as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests.
Will Gunners boss Mikel Arteta be able to shake it off quickly and get his team back on track? Elsewhere, we got talking points galore for Inter Milan and Roma (who played out a revealing 2-2 draw), Manchester United (who gutted out a draw at Fulham), Borussia Dortmund (who stayed perfect in the German Bundesliga), Liverpool (another goal for Alexander Isak!), and much, much more.It’s Monday morning, so what better time for some musings? Let’s get into it.- Carrick keen to find Man Utd positives, but there aren’t many right now – VAR review: Why no penalty for Manchester United at Fulham? – Lindop: Has Isak finally found form at Liverpool?Madrid derby reopens a familiar can of worms … but there was also a game played in the middle of it allAnd we’re back — back where we once were, and where we really don’t want to be, talking about referees, officiating appointments and conspiracies. Back in a world that, according to Jose Mourinho, he had hoped to have left behind when he left LaLiga in 2013. (Evidently he hasn’t been watching Real Madrid TV the last couple of years.)It’s a familiar situation.
Real Madrid lose. Some big decisions go against them. Mourinho talks about the officiating — both referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias (“felt the pressure” … “not an international standard referee and never will be one”) and VAR Daniel Jesus Trujillo Suarez (“he has a history with us” …
“he feels no pressure … or maybe he feels pressure from certain places”) — and we end up not talking about Atletico’s win or the fact that Real Madrid are a whopping six points behind league-leading Barcelona even though it’s still just September.Many Madridistas will nod along knowingly and talk about robbery and conspiracies. Many Mourinho-haters will talk about the same old playbook: deflect, deny, disorient. The thing here is that on the two big decisions that Mourinho cited, with the help of two A4 color printouts, he sort of has a point.VAR correctly intervened to reverse the yellow card shown to Jude Bellingham after a clash with Cristian Romero and cautioned the Argentine instead, but that could easily have been a red. Romero has a reputation and it’s not unjustified: He knew what he was doing, leaving his boot in.
On the other hand, the trend in many European leagues this year is to let play run, call fewer fouls and show fewer cards, and Arias Ortiz is that sort of referee. It’s the difficult line officials tread. They want red-blooded tackles, they’re in the sports entertainment business and a first-half sending off can spoil LaLiga’s “other” showcase clash. I can live with his decision in the moment.The tackle by Lee Kang-In on Fede Valverde is another matter.
It looks bad on replays, and it looks downright horrendous in the still-frame Mourinho was waving around. Ortiz Arias had a clear view: You assume his decision to not intervene with a caution was down to Valverde staying on his feet and not looking particularly hurt.I think he got it wrong. It merited at least a yellow card, and if the VAR had intervened and he had seen it again, it might have been a red. But here, we need to remind ourselves — again — that the VAR can intervene only if it’s a “clear and obvious mistake” that would result in an indisputable red card.
Ortiz Arias saw it, judged it (incorrectly in my view) and because of this, the VAR didn’t feel it was clear-cut enough that he was going to jump from a simple foul to a straight red.Mourinho is correct when he says that if both Lee and Romero had been sent off, Real Madrid would likely have won this game, playing at 11 vs. 9 for more than an hour. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.) But that doesn’t mean the calls were as obvious as he says.Nor does it mean he’s on the receiving end of a vast conspiracy. (By the way, conspiracies are usually driven by financial considerations: What’s the benefit to LaLiga of penalizing Real Madrid, the world’s most popular club, and denying the league a seasonlong head-to-head battle with Barcelona?)Of course, all of this takes away from the match itself, which is a shame. After a first half that offered very little from both sides — I’m not blaming them here, as derbies are more “can’t lose” than “must win” — the game turned on Dean Huijsen’s red card and penalty. (Weirdly, Mourinho said he didn’t see the replay so couldn’t judge, but based on what he was told in the dressing room, Ortiz Arias got it correct depending on where you spot the foul.)Down a goal and a man with 38 minutes to go away to Atleti, there’s only so much you can do, but the reaction from Real Madrid was nevertheless disappointing. Mourinho evidently felt the same, and made a big (but correct) call in replacing Vinicius with Yan Diomande. The fact that Jonathan David (are you watching, Juventus?) scored the second almost straight away definitively took the wind out of their sails before Antonio Rüdiger’s garbage-time strike.
Thibaut Courtois performed his usual miracle saves, and it felt like damage limitation after that. (Mourinho knows three weeks without a game is a long time and it’s better to lose 2-1 while complaining about refereeing than to get your butt handed to you 5-2, as happened last year.)play3:28What went wrong for Real in the Madrid derby?As for Atleti, Romero still sails too close to the wind for my liking, Julián Álvarez got booed when he came on (but was left alone after that) and Johnny Cardoso did a fine impression of Pablo Barrios in midfield. Giuliano Simeone dominated the game, too: He set up David’s goal and his defending on Kylian Mbappé late was a joy to behold. (His Papa will be proud.) With Alexander Sorloth returning after the international break and David scoring his third goal in three games, it gives the club the option of slow-rolling Alvarez’s reintegration and taking pressure off him, which is another big positive.Arsenal got trounced at Brighton, and it’s now up to Arteta to make sure it was just a blipBrighton & Hove Albion fans, watching their team demolish the reigning Premier League champions, gleefully sang “Are you Tottenham in disguise?” It’s the sort of trolling that winds up any fanbase — especially given the current state of Spurs — but for obvious reasons, it strikes a particular chord with Arsenal.Make no mistake about it: The 3-0 defeat is a bloody nose. The challenge for Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is to decide how much of it is down to things beyond his control — like Brighton being exceptional, or some of his players making craven mistakes — and how much has to do with flaws in his setup … weaknesses future opponents may be able to exploit. (Thankfully, they don’t play Brighton every week.)The funny thing is that the stat line doesn’t tell the story of how much better Brighton were. Arsenal had 60% possession and won the expected goals battle (1.63 to 1.31).
Both teams missed two big chances (it’s not an exaggeration to say Brighton could have scored five or six), and Arsenal had more touches in the opposition box. So how were they so bad?play0:53Hislop: Arsenal have
