Barcelona vice-president Jordi Mestre has criticised Cristiano Ronaldo for blaming Real Madrid's La Liga woes on his team-mates, claiming none of the Catalan club's players would do the same.
Madrid slipped to a 1-0 defeat to city rivals Atletico on Saturday thanks to a second-half strike from Antoine Griezmann.
That result, combined with Barca's 2-1 win over Sevilla on Sunday, leaves Madrid in third place, 12 points adrift of Luis Enrique's leaders.
And Ronaldo was quick to point the finger at his colleagues following their loss at the Santiago Bernabeu, saying "if everyone was at my level, perhaps we would be first".
Ronaldo has since attempted to clarify his comments, insisting he was referring to the club's injury situation and not performances.
However, Mestre told Movistar: "Our team's players would never say what Cristiano said. The club monitors a lot of things before signing players.
"Honestly, I could not imagine one of our players saying what Cristiano said."
Asked about Barca's commanding eight-point lead over Atletico at the top, Mestre added: "La Liga is not won at the end of February. That's not a cliche, it's true because we could slip up and I'm sure Real Madrid will bounce back. There are no free meals here."
