Xavi: Real are the pits, don't know how to lose
Reuters - Friday 27 January 2012, 15:59
Xavi has labelled Real
Madrid bad losers as the fallout from Barcelona's thrilling
King's Cup victory over their arch rivals continued to dominate
the sports headlines in Spain on Friday.
The European champions drew 2-2 at the Nou Camp to knock
holders Real out at the quarter-final stage 4-3 on aggregate on
Wednesday, after a match full of disputed refereeing decisions.
Spain midfielder Xavi was caught on camera speaking to
Barcelona Television before a scheduled interview was due to
start.
"They're the pits, they don't know how to lose," said Xavi
shaking his head, on a video clip released on the El Mundo
website.
Xavi's Spain team-mate, Real defender Sergio Ramos, was sent
off for a second bookable offence near the end on Wednesday for
catching Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets in the face with his
arm as the two jumped for a header.
Ramos used his official Twitter account to accuse Busquets,
another Spanish World-Cup winning colleague, of feigning injury.
"I'm pleased the club [Real] are going to appeal my second
yellow card because although some don't stop rolling around all
over the place, I didn't touch him," Ramos wrote.
The lingering bad feeling after the recent 'Clasico'
threatens to disrupt the harmony of the Spanish national team
like last year, when the internationals from both clubs were
reported to have spoken to each other privately to defuse the
tension.
A photo of Real coach Jose Mourinho standing by referee
Fernando Teixeira Vitienes's car after Wednesday's game has also
been in the media, with Barcelona-based daily Mundo Deportivo
reporting he harangued the match official.
"What an artist, you like to mess up the work of serious
professionals," he was quoted as saying. "Now go and smoke a
cigar and have a laugh, you have no shame."
Mourinho's spokesman Eladio Parames confirmed what the
Portuguese had said on his official Twitter account.