Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone complained that Real Madrid receive preferential treatment from referees after a straight red card was shown to Angel Correa in a 1-1 draw against their rivals in Saturday’s derby.

Simeone was fuming over referee Gil Manzano’s sending off of Atletico forward Correa in the 64th minute after an elbow to the chest of defender Antonio Rudiger with the score 0-0.

“A contact is not a blow,” Simeone told DAZN after the game. “Football is a physical game. If I’m not mistaken, Rudiger measures 1.94m and if it was apparently such a brutal blow, it would have left him sitting down, but he immediately gets up.

“It may be a yellow [card] but taking a player out for that, there would be no players left on the field.

“It’s the same story. It is normal, and it has become normal [refereeing favouring Madrid] and that’s not right and it would be nice if we could all compete in the same way.”

It was the third time this season that Simeone felt his team had been punished unfairly against Madrid.

Atletico had Stefan Savic red carded in their 3-1 extra-time loss at Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal on Jan. 26 and had Mario Hermoso sent off in their 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in LaLiga on Sept. 18.