Diego Simeone Says VAR Isn't Why Atletico Madrid Lost Derby vs. Real Madrid

Diego Simeone refused to blame the video assistant referee for Atletico Madrid's 3-1 derby defeat at home to Real Madrid in La Liga on Saturday.

Atleti lost to goals from Casemiro, Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale. Antoine Griezmann equalised after Casemiro opened the scoring, but Ramos scored from the penalty spot to restore the visitors' lead three minutes before the break at the Wanda Metropolitano.

It took a ruling from VAR to confirm the penalty after Vinicius Junior was brought down by Jose Gimenez.

Atletico thought they had equalised when Chelsea loanee Alvaro Morata lobbed Thibaut Courtois 10 minutes after the restart. VAR ruled the goal out, though, deeming the former Real striker to have been offside.

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There was more controversy later when Morata went down in the box after an errant header by Bale. Replays ruled out what had looked a certain penalty for the home side.

Even though a few crucial calls didn't go the way of his team, Simeone instead opted to credit the opposition for their performance:

It was a fair assessment, despite how often VAR came to the aid of Los Blancos. The visitors still managed to exploit what had previously been a water-tight defence:

There were also issues at the other end of the pitch, where Griezmann and Morata are still struggling to jell. The latter hasn't scored in two matches since arriving from Chelsea during the January transfer window.

Morata also remains without a goal in this particular derby, having failed to find the net in five previous meetings between the two rivals from the Spanish capital.

Problems at both ends of the team have afflicted Atleti at the worst moment. This result, on the back of a 1-0 defeat to Real Betis last time out, denied Simeone's men the chance to close the gap on leaders Barcelona to just three points.

The Blaugrana can now go nine clear of Atletico with a win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames on Sunday. It would leave Real as Barca's closest challengers with Atleti to rue a lack of goals as well as sudden and damaging inconsistency at the back.