Pau Quesada says Barça are holding Real Madrid back but vows to win this season

Pau Quesada believes Barça are holding Real Madrid back, but says his team will win titles this season. After taking a point in Munich the previous day, the coach declared: “They are putting a brake on us, but this year we will win them.” He also avoided mentioning FC Barcelona in his pitch-side remarks.

Real Madrid had led 2-0 in Munich in the 22nd minute before being pegged back. Quesada was still pleased with the point his team earned in the match and felt they could even have won it.

The coach expanded on his view by discussing the titles Real Madrid might, in his opinion, have won without Barça. “The reality is that if we hadn’t come up against Barça, we would have more than one title. If we had played in England, we would have won the English league, and if we had done so in Germany, we would have won it there,” he said. He added that the situation should be treated not as a problem but as a reason to raise their standards.

Quesada also compared the situation with that of PSG in its league, because of PSG’s presence. “We are not always valued as much because Barça is putting that brake on us,” he said. Asked whether Barça was Real Madrid’s worst opponent, he replied that the team was the toughest rival for any side it faced, citing its well-established structure and the long time its players had spent playing together.

The coach nevertheless expressed confidence ahead of the league return match: “We can beat them and we are going to beat them this season.” Real Madrid had lost the first meeting 7-1 in Barcelona. Quesada also pointed to the match against City, which ended 1-1, as an example of what his team aims to reproduce: “We came here to win.”