Here are some reactions following the 4-3 victory of FC Barcelona over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu:
Marcelo of Real Madrid
“We fought hard but it is difficult when you are a man down. We’ll look at our mistakes in order not to make the same errors again.”
“We can hold our heads high; there are still a lot of matches to play. If we had beaten Barcelona it would not have been the end of La Liga and we knew they were a great team. We tried to do what the coach asked of us. You cannot play well in every match and the defence will not always keep a clean sheet.”
“There is still a long way to go. We are going to try and get a victory away to Sevilla. We have to see what our errors were so that we don’t repeat them, it’s another game, another final, and we have to win no matter what.”
Karim Benzema of Real Madrid
“We’re disappointed with the result. We scored three goals and had control of the game.”
“When Barcelona don’t have it, it is very difficult for them and we played a great game. Barcelona always have possession and we adapted our game against that team and we were doing well. I scored two goals but it doesn’t matter, the important thing is the result.”
“It was a night with a lot of key moments and now we’ll try and beat Sevilla. At this point in the season the matches are all finals and we know that Atletico take on Barcelona on the final day, so we have to think about ourselves in order to win.”
Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino
“La Liga is not over. We were given up for dead but with this result today we are right back in it. This was our last chance. We did not want to be left out. Barça stay third with the win, but are now only one point from the summit with Atletico Madrid topping Real on head-to-head record.”
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid
“The decisions that the referee took, for me it was unbelievable.”
“It makes you think that maybe they don’t want Madrid to win this league. Or they don’t want to completely rule out Barca, because if Barca had lost today they would have been dead.”
“There were a lot of mistakes for just one game. A match between Real and Barca ought to have a high level of referee.”
“You can’t make correct decisions when you are nervous. It makes me think that it is not just on the field that you win games, a little help from outside helps too.”
“My penalty might have been just outside the area, but there are many things that went on. It is difficult when many people didn’t want us to win today.”
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti
“Obviously we are not happy because we have lost a big opportunity, but we will continue fighting until the end.”
“There are nine games left and it will be an intense race. The league is open for all three teams and any game could be decisive. We need a good reaction on Wednesday because that could be the key game of the season.”
Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernández
“Cristiano is wrong, his criticism was rash. We have been superior, Barcelona have played better than Real Madrid and the result shows that.”
“As far as I’m concerned, they were all penalties, including the one from Alves on Cristiano, from what I could see on the pitch.”
“Atlético are the leaders. They’re a very warrior-like team, they’re battlers. There are no favourites though and from now on, there are three candidates for the title.”
Gerard Pique of Barcelona
“It was a great match but it can’t be that once the game’s over we focus on the referee,” Pique said.
“If we look at every individual play we’ll never get out of here.”
“The decisions are made in a split second and I don’t believe the referee influenced the result.”
“The players were fired up and we don’t need to keep going over this. After the show we put on, it’s unfair to talk about the referee.”
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