Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho claims that some of his players feel it is impossible to beat Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Real boss claims some of his players see victory as 'impossible'
Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho claims that some of his players feel it is impossible to beat Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Mourinho saw his side go out of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday evening at the hands of their arch-rivals following a 2-2 draw, which meant Barca won 4-3 on aggregate.
Real had trailed 2-0 with Pedro and Dani Alves scoring for the World and European champions, before Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scored to level matters.
But Mourinho feels some of his players have a mental block which is stopping them from winning in Catalunya.
"We came here with the intention of going through. We knew it would be difficult, but that is what we came here to do," he revealed.
Impossible
"However I have heard in the dressing room it is impossible to win here.
"I have played here with Chelsea, Inter (Milan) and Madrid various times and this is nothing new.
"I will congratulate Barcelona for what they did at the Bernabeu last week but not for the qualification."
In a frosty press conference Mourinho also refused to accept he had made the
wrong decision in starting Gonzalo Higuain ahead of Benzema despite the positive impression the Frenchman made as a second-half substitute.
"We played very well in the first half," said the Portuguese tactician.
"The half-time was very easy for me because if you are not playing well 10 minutes is a very short time, but I only had to speak to the players for a minute."
Guardiola
Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola congratulated Real for their performance and admitted he was relieved to have made it through to the semi-finals after an intense game that swung back and forth.
"The players have shown a great fortitude and I congratulate them," he said.
"Madrid is a great team and because of that this victory has great merit.
"Madrid played very well, but over the 180 minutes we were deserving winners.
"They played without pressure, because they knew they had nothing to lose.
"They pushed high up the field, but we knew they would because we have experience of them doing that here. To turn the tie around you need to play like this.
"It is more difficult to beat Real Madrid every time we play them, and that is why we are so happy.
"We know the potential they have but throughout both games we have played a
good tie."
