Courtois and Nacho Fernández did not walk around with hot cloths before the cameras of Movistar LaLiga and recognized the superiority of Barcelona in the Clásico this Sunday.
Courteous
match evaluation: “We gave an unacceptable image for the club. We wanted to start with intensity. They found holes. We have not been compact. The first goal perhaps we are not too attentive. In the second another that we are not. You think that at the break you can come back from the game…”.
Modric, from false ‘9’: “We have to talk about tactics internally. Neither the beginning of the match nor the second half has come out”.
Change in the system at rest: “Sometimes the games demand that of you. We started well, we had a chance with Fede and then we went down. We have not found the free man in the ball exit. We stopped fighting in the second half. They had chances and the result could have been much worse”.
Nacho
How do you understand this 0-4?: “A very bad match for us. A very good match for Barcelona. The result says it all. It was one of our worst games of the season. Perhaps we came out relaxed to see ourselves with that advantage in the standings and it was not a game to start like that, quite the opposite. We are sad because it always hurts a lot to lose the Clásico. So far we’ve had a great season and that advantage allows us to continue leading”.
Beyond that relaxation, the team has been unrecognizable. Because I do not know. I could not tell you. I think we haven’t been good at any stage: neither behind, nor up, not even with the ball have we been comfortable from the first moment. The result says it all. It has been one of the worst games. Complicated because you lose a Clásico, but we are still leaders”
What did you expect with that initial plan, with Modric as a false ‘9’? And why did the corrections at the beginning of the second half not work when a tremendously messy team was seen?: “Everything has gone wrong, from the beginning. We came out of the break and they scored two quick goals for us too. With Modric at the top we still wanted to have a little more possession of the ball, but we haven’t been comfortable at any time. Barça has played a great game, they have annulled us in all lines. Give him congratulations. There’s still a lot. We continue to be leaders, scoring a lot of points and it all depends on us”.
Can this take their toll? The emotional blow is tremendously hard: “Emotionally, it’s hard to lose the match that it is, but we’ve had a good advantage all year and now what we have to do is maintain it. It’s going to be a rough few days, but this is Real Madrid. You have to get up. We depend on us, there is a lot and little left”.