Barcelona star Xavi reacted bitterly to Saturday’s Clasico defeat by suggesting winners Real Madrid are a limited team.
Los Blancos have largely been regarded as fully deserving their 3-1 victory, but Xavi – who was handed a surprise start by boss Luis Enrique – did not share that view.
“They live off the counter attack and we couldn’t stop them,” complained the midfielder. “We still believe in what we’re doing.”
But Madrid’s central defensive partnership of Pepe and Sergio Ramos maintained their on-pitch solidarity by joining forces to hit back at Xavi’s criticisms.
Pepe, who gave his team a 2-1 lead with a powerful header from a corner, refuted Xavi’s accusation by pointing to the fact that the Bernabeu crowd had been able to enjoy a long spell of possession from their team during the second-half.
“I don’t think that is so,” said Pepe in response to Xavi’s comments. “Our supporters chanted ‘olés’ and that says it all.
“We played after having one day less of recovery than Barca and showed our class.”
Pepe also explained that his goal celebration – running to the fans with both hands spread wide open – was a reference to his team’s 10 Champions League successes, six more than Barca have achieved.
“I celebrated like that to indicate that we have the ‘Decima’ and that it did not arrive by accident. We worked hard to achieve it and people understand we struggle for our success.”
And fellow centre back Sergio Ramos also rejected the views of his former international colleague Xavi, saying: “We didn’t just play on the counter – we invaded their half. We had possession, we fought for every ball and they are not used to that. We did them a lot of damage.”
Ramos was delighted with Real’s overall performance, which saw them recover from falling behind to Neymar’s early goal to secure a 3-1 win thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty, Pepe’s header and a strike from Karim Benzema.
“I’m very satisfied,” he said. “The team was incredible across all the lines and in every aspect, despite the goal we conceded.”