The French sports daily published a first-half heat map for Los Blancos. It shows superstars Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior occupied almost exactly the same area of the pitch throughout the opening 45 minutes.
Questions had already surfaced over how well they would combine, but Mourinho stuck with his personnel and started Mbappe and Vinicius together with Jude Bellingham and Arda Güler from the outset.
That quartet suffered from the lack of balance in the side. Instead of using space smartly to bring out their individual quality, the attacking players kept getting in each other's way.
Constantly drifting into the same areas took away Los Blancos' cutting edge in attack and exposed clear coordination problems as soon as the opposition raised the intensity. In a fiercely contested duel, the team looked badly organised.
Diego Simeone: This is Real Madrid's weakness
Atletico coach Diego Simeone targeted those weaknesses all game and said after the final whistle about the outcome of the match: "Apart from the dismissals, the course of the game was clear: one team had more possession, one team made use of the decisive moments, and the other team did not create the goalscoring chances it normally has. We knew where we could hurt them, namely on their left side."
L'Equipe also delivered a damning verdict. "Mbappe and Vinicius positioned themselves in almost the same area throughout the entire first half - a scene that clearly exposed Real Madrid's collective problem and the poor distribution of roles within the team," the newspaper wrote.
Dean Huijsen's red card in the second half made the visitors' situation even worse. Down to 10 men, Madrid conceded two goals and ultimately had to accept a 2-1 defeat.
Mourinho suspected a conspiracy after the defeat, while Bellingham also criticised the referee's decisions. For Real, it was a doubly bitter evening: not only did they leave empty-handed, midfielder Fede Valverde has also reportedly suffered a serious injury.