Real Madrid players are convinced that the only reason they will not not be playing in the Champions League final is because all the big decisions against Barcelona went against them.
Real players were already incensed following the first leg at the Bernabeu last week when red cards were shown to their Portuguese midfielder Pepe and coach Jose Mourinho, who was not in attendance at the Nou Camp.
And their sense of injustice grew after Higuain’s second-half strike on Tuesday was controversially ruled out for a Ronaldo foul on Javier Mascherano.
“The team is sad, but we knew it was an uphill battle,” Ronaldo said on the Real Madrid website. “The name of the match is Mission Impossible IV. Once again it was the referee that didn’t allow us to dictate the outcome. We knew we could beat Barca, but the referee didn’t let us. Higuain’s goal was good. Pique pushed me and I landed on Mascherano. He didn’t used to fall to the ground in England, but he’s picked up the bad habit of doing it here like everyone else.”
“The referee in the first match took away our chances of playing the final. Whoever knows anything about football knows that Barcelona get preferential treatment. We knew something would happen. We knew that if we scored a goal that everything would be done to keep us from going through. This isn’t good for football. We should just stay home and allow Barcelona to play alone if things don’t change.”
“Barcelona have a lot of power off the pitch. We would have drawn 0-0 without the Alves incident and tonight’s draw would have seen us through. There are no differences between the teams as was seen thoughout the four matches. We won the Copa del Rey by playing fairly. I don’t feel that Barcelona were better than us, but rather that they have a lot of help from the referees.”
Ronaldo’s sentiments were echoed by Xabi Alonso.
“If Higuaín’s goal had been allowed, as it should have been, it would have changed everything,’’ said the midfielder. “We feel so many bad decisions have been made against us in both games.’’