Gerard Pique: Real Madrid Did Not Want To Play Football

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has criticized Real Madrid, claiming Jose Mourinho’s men did not try to play football during the Catalan club’s 2-0 victory in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final tie on Wednesday evening.

Lionel Messi’s brace saw Pep Guardiola’s team take two valuable away goals back to Camp Nou with the rivals set to meet for the second-leg next Tuesday.

Madrid complained about refereeing decisions going against them after Pepe was given a straight red for a challenge on Daniel Alves, but Pique was having none of it.

“They think the only way to stop us is playing like this ill-tempered football,” the defender told Sky Sports. “They didn’t want to play football, they didn’t want to keep the ball.

“The red card was a red card. He Pepe tackled really strong and for Daniel Alves it could be painful and after that there was another reaction, I think Marcelo against Pedro – it was another red card.

“The referee can’t see it, but I think that finally we are really happy for the win and we’ve taken a really good step to go to the final.”

The former Manchester United centerback and his team-mates will be back in league action at the weekend when they travel to the Basque country to face Real Sociedad.