Jose Mourinho's comments after Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Valencia did not go unnoticed. Javier Aguirre, the Valencia coach, hit back at the Portuguese's remarks about the superiority of the Madrid players. He also revisited one of the match's most contentious refereeing moments: the clash between Pablo Mavie and Kylian Mbappe that preceded Madrid's opener.
Aguirre went beyond simply clarifying what passed between him and Mourinho at full time. He questioned the referee's decision to award Mbappe a foul, arguing the incident never merited one, reigniting the controversy around the goal that put Real Madrid ahead.
Aguirre corrects Mourinho's account
Mourinho had revealed after the match his conversation with Aguirre in the tunnel leading to the dressing rooms, saying: "I told him not to feel sad, because my players are much better than his, and that is the truth. The problem is not Aguirre, he is a great coach with vast experience, but Real Madrid's players are extremely good, and coaches who have players like mine are closer to winning."
Aguirre was keen to set the record straight. The Portuguese had not used the word "much better", he insisted, only that his players were better, and he took no personal offence.
Speaking in comments carried by the newspaper Mundo Deportivo, the Valencia coach said: "He did not say they were much better, he told me to stay calm because his players are better. I listened to him, he is my friend, I congratulated him and then went to the dressing room."
He added: "We did not talk about it inside the dressing room, and there was no reaction. The players understand football, and they treated it as a phrase in the context of the game and not as something personal. Some of them perhaps did not even hear it."
Backing his squad, Aguirre said: "I think I have extremely good players, otherwise I would not be here. This is a big club with a long history of producing players."
Aguirre objects to Mbappe's foul that preceded Valverde's goal
The sharpest part of his comments came when he returned to the incident before Real Madrid's first goal, after referee Francisco Jose Hernandez Maeso awarded Kylian Mbappe a foul following a clash with Pablo Mavie near Valencia's penalty area.
It came in the 28th minute. Real Madrid won a free kick, Valencia's defence blocked the first attempt, and the ball fell to Federico Valverde, who lashed a powerful shot into the net to put his side ahead.
Valencia's players rounded on the referee, adamant Mavie had not fouled Mbappe. The protest spread to the officials and the coaching staff, becoming a flashpoint of tension between the two sides at the break.
Asked for his view on the incident, he was unequivocal: "I think it was not a foul, and that is what I saw from my angle."
He then added, citing what passed between him and the fourth official: "If it was a foul, then why did the player not get a red card? The fourth official told me that Mbappe was not in control of the ball, and I think he was right, the ball was not under his control."
For Aguirre, that was proof the incident did not warrant a sending off. He refused, though, to lean on it as an excuse: "I will never justify the defeat. Real Madrid were better than us and won. Neither luck nor the referee makes a team better."
Altercation in the tunnel and police intervention: what happened?
The flashpoint over Mbappe's foul did not end there. The tunnel leading to the dressing rooms saw a heated altercation at the break, after Valencia's sporting director Braulio Vazquez went to protest to the assistant referee over the decision that preceded Valverde's goal.
Several players were dragged in. Reports pointed to interventions from Jude Bellingham, Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao. Witnesses also described a clash between Rudiger and a member of the Spanish club's private security, which brought the national police in to separate those involved.
None of this made the referee's report. He documented only the incident involving Braulio Vazquez, accusing him of confronting him and protesting loudly to the first assistant referee, repeating: "It is not a foul.. it is not a foul! What a farce."
Quizzed about the altercation, Aguirre said he had not seen what happened. He had spoken with Braulio, who told him he had objected to the decision, but offered no further details.
Valverde had opened the scoring in the 28th minute, Arda Guler made it two in the 36th, and Mbappe completed the rout in the 75th, finishing a decisive pass from the Turkish star.
Victory took Real Madrid to 30 points and an eighth consecutive win across all competitions, drawing them level with Barcelona at the top of La Liga. The Catalans stay ahead on goal difference and have a game in hand. Valencia remain second from bottom on 9 points.