Xabi Alonso, the midfielder, admitted that they did not play so well against the Champions at Camp Nou and lost by 1-0. He also added that he felt that it was an even contest.
The only goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the second half gave Barcelona the victory. After this goal, Alonso rued missed opportunities for Los Blancos. Moreover, the dismissal of Sergi Busquets made Real Madrid “anxious”. Xabi said, “Playing against ten you get a bit anxious, but it was a very even match I thought. We had our chances but we lost. It’s too bad we couldn’t score.”
He also added, “In the second half they scored first and we lost. We didn’t play that great, but a bit better, but we knew what we had to do.”
He was unconcerned at losing at this stage of the season the top spot to the Blaugrana. Xabi feels that there is still a long way to go in the league campaign and said Real Madrid must start now preparing for the return Clasico at the Bernabeu.
He mentioned further, “It [losing top spot] doesn’t matter. We’re only a couple of points behind but there’s still a lot of games to go. Now we just have to go off prepare for the Clasico at home.”
