Barcelona- We are leaders

Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova says he is proud with the effort shown by his players despite playing with ten men for most of the game.

The Catalans saw their one-goal advantage from the first leg held at the Camp Nou cancelled when Madrid scored two goals inside the opening twenty minutes through Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Vilanova's side were then reduced to ten men in the 27th minute when defender Adriano was shown a straight red card for a foul on Ronaldo, but they managed to pull a goal back through Lionel Messi and came close to equalising on a few occasions late in the second half.


"This is the proudest I've been of my players, they played the whole second half down a man," Vilanova told the club's website.

"In the second half we created up to five very clear chances to score against an opponent that didn't leave their own half of the pitch."

Midfielder Sergio Busquets, on the other hand, said he was disappointed with their inability to make use of the chances they created.
"I'm upset that we were better both in the away leg and in the return leg," said Busquets.

"Despite playing with 10 players, we had more chances to score.

"I'm very proud of my team-mates, when things aren't going well, like today, they always go forward but it wasn't meant to be despite the fact that we created chances."

"Barcelona will look to continue with their good form in La Liga when they face Valencia at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

"I think we were the better side and we have to focus on the positive aspects of the game, on Sunday we have a Liga match; we're leaders and this isn't going to stop," Busquets said.

"This Sunday against Valencia we'll go out to win the match, we're leaders in the Liga and I hope we can maintain the top spot."