Former referee Bruno Paixao rejects Jose Mourinho’s red-card claim after El Clasico

Former Portuguese referee Bruno Paixao has disagreed with Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho’s assessment of a controversial incident in the 2-1 win over Barcelona.

Real Madrid beat Barcelona at Camp Nou on Sunday evening in the 10th round of La Liga, cutting the leaders’ advantage to three points and reopening the title race.

Mourinho criticised the VAR official after Barcelona’s Joao Cancelo challenged Real Madrid winger Yann Diomande. The Real Madrid manager said the incident should have resulted in a red card.

“The referee had a great game, but his colleague in the VAR room was asleep in the 60th minute,” Mourinho said at his post-match news conference. “He should have intervened to send off Cancelo for his challenge on Diomande.”

Paixao, however, rejected Mourinho’s complaint and said the challenge did not meet the threshold for a dismissal.

“I do not agree with Mourinho,” the Portuguese refereeing expert told Kooora on Monday. “The challenge warrants a yellow card at most. I do not think the player deserves a red card.”