Jose Mourinho was unavailable to speak after Real Madrid's 3-1 aggregate loss against Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals, but assistant coach Aitor Karanka was. There's no word if three-quarters of the media left in protest at not getting to speak to His Specialness, but at least we didn't get a repeat of the press conference at the Santiago Bernabeu - although Karanka did have his own complaints to make:
Barcelona Vs. Real Madrid, 2011 Champions League Semifinal: Aitor Karanka Claims Madrid Should Be ‘Proud’
Mourinho said it was impossible for Real Madrid to win the tie and it was. We stood up to Barcelona while on equal terms. All of Madridismo is outraged after what we saw again tonight. With 41 minutes left the [Gonzalo Higuain] disallowed goal changed a lot. The facts are there. Everyone said the goal was good.
The entire world saw it and will continue to see it. Thousands watched the first match as well as today’s. I already said that today’s officiating would be easy because the tie was virtually over after what took place in the Bernabeu. The coach was right yet again. We finished eleven on eleven and in four matches there were two draws, one victory and one defeat. Had we arrived here with a 0-0 in the first leg and eleven players...
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Fans again saw what this team is all about. The players proved that they know how to play when allowed to. They displayed different methods of playing and different options, and while we were on equal terms we stood up to Barcelona. Madridistas should be proud of everything they have seen in the last month.
While it’s easy to see why he’d think the goal should have been given, it’s more difficult to reconcile his broader comments with the context of series of matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid over the past few weeks. In only one of those has Real Madrid really deserved anything from the match - the Copa del Rey final, which they duly won 1-0 - and even before the red cards in their league match and the first leg of the Champions League semifinal they were being outplayed by their rivals.
Should Madrid fans feel annoyed and hard done by in general? Probably, yes. The Pepe red card, in particular, was a major blow to their hopes of progressing to Wembley. But that doesn’t mean they deserved to go through. Barcelona were better across the pitch. At one level, Real Madrid were victims of gross injustice. But taking a step further back, the better team won. And it wasn’t close.
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