Barcelona last night suffered a humiliating 0-4 defeat in the Copa del Rey semi-final to Real Madrid AT camp Nou.
Los Blancos turned around a 1-0 deficit from the first leg to storm their first Copa del Rey final in 10 years.
Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick to ensure that Real Madrid qualifies final, where they will meet Osasuna.
Vinicius Junior had leveled the tie before Benzema took center stage and ensured a dominant El Clasico victory.
Meanwhile, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez insists that last night’s defeat won’t stain their potential La Liga title.
Xavi admitted that last night’s El Clasico loss was difficult to digest.
“We were doing well, but we lost order after the second goal. Maybe it was maturity,” he said during the post-match press conference.
The Barcelona manager also refused to attribute the defeat to the absence of key players.
“There are no excuses; we have to compete. This happens in a season; you get injuries. We would have liked to have them playing, but we competed well without them in the first half,” he said.
“We have won the Super Cup and are doing well in La Liga, but we have to keep competing. If we win La Liga and the Super Cup, it will be a very good season. This result should not tarnish that.”
The cup exit comes on the back of eliminations from both the Champions League and Europa League earlier this season.
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Barça will be comforted with the Super Cup which they already won and the fact that they are one hand on a first La Liga title since 2019.
Barcelona will look to extend their 12 points lead in the La Liga standings when they host Girona on Monday.
