Gerard Pique responded to Santiago Solari’s comments on harsh scheduling by reminding everyone that Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 5-1 the last time Los Blancos had an extra day of rest.

Earlier, Solari had complained about harsh scheduling which sees the European champions host Barcelona twice and then Ajax in a space of seven days, starting from Wednesday at the Bernabeu.

The Madrid boss hinted that Barcelona have been favoured by the scheduling, given they played their league game against Sevilla on Saturday, while Madrid have to play Levante away on Sunday.

“The calendar is funny,” Solari said to Marca.

“We don’t choose to play in these different circumstances, but we’re going to take it as a big challenge.”

Pique responded to this by commenting on how Madrid had a similar advantage in the return fixture earlier this season, but failed to capitalise on it.

“If I remember correctly, they had one extra day of rest in the first half of the season and we won 5-1,” he said.

“They’ll be keen to play us and we’ll do all we can to reach the final.”