Atletico Madrid defeated 10-man Real Madrid 2-1 in a fiercely contested La Liga derby on Sunday, leaving Jose Mourinho’s side six points behind leaders Barcelona.

Dean Huijsen was sent off early in the second half after pulling down Giuliano Simeone in the box, with Alejandro Grimaldo converting the resulting penalty to put Atletico ahead.

Jonathan David then doubled Atletico’s lead before Antonio Rudiger pulled one back late for Real Madrid, but Diego Simeone’s side held on for the victory.

The result lifted Atletico to second place on 16 points, five behind Barcelona and one ahead of Real Madrid, who suffered their second defeat of the campaign.

The decisive moment came shortly after half-time when Huijsen was shown a red card for denying Simeone a goalscoring opportunity in the area.

Real Madrid were also unhappy with two first-half challenges, involving Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in, which Mourinho believed should have resulted in red cards.

“They were two clear red cards… the difficulty we had after (Huijsen’s red) with 11 (players) against 10, well imagine 50 minutes with 11 against nine,” Mourinho said.

“There are no miracles in football,” he added. “11 against nine, well we can imagine how that would have finished.”

The first half was largely scrappy, with neither side creating clear-cut chances despite the quality on display.

One of the major talking points came when Jude Bellingham challenged Romero and the Atletico defender appeared to step on the England midfielder’s leg. Bellingham was initially booked, but after a VAR review, the referee rescinded the card and showed it to Romero instead.

Madrid were also frustrated by a heavy challenge from Lee Kang-in on Federico Valverde shortly before half-time that went unpunished.

Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe and Bellingham struggled to influence the game as Atletico matched Real’s intensity and restricted their attacking threat.

Mourinho had opted to start Aurelien Tchouameni in midfield ahead of Bernardo Silva, favouring greater defensive strength over creativity.

The derby also renewed the managerial rivalry between Mourinho and Simeone. Their previous meeting came in 2014, when Mourinho was Chelsea manager and Atletico eliminated the English side from the Champions League at Stamford Bridge.

Their first Madrid derby as opposing managers came two years earlier, when Simeone’s Atletico hosted Mourinho’s Real Madrid at the Vicente Calderon Stadium, with Mourinho’s side winning 4-1.

“This is a derby,” Mourinho said before the match. “Derbies are always something more special because of the history, the culture of the games and the passion of the fans.”

“But obviously three points is most important thing,” he added.

Mourinho had won three and drawn one of his previous six meetings with Simeone, while Atletico’s 2013 Copa del Rey victory over Real had ended a 14-year wait for a derby win.

With the latest defeat, Real Madrid remain on 15 points after seven matches, while Atletico moved into second place behind Barcelona.