After the draw In Madrid, Xavi Hernandez made it clear that: "In no way will Madrid’s morale be higher. We were the better team, faithful to our playing style and we’ll take a lot from the game, despite not getting the three points." He added: "We had control of the game, played with patience, and we defended very well, but the win escaped us in the end." In this sense, Xavi was a little surprised by Madrid’s approach to the match. "They allowed us to control the whole game. We didn’t expect that, we thought they would pressurise us high up the field," he said.

"One step further"

Xavi believes that the draw, which maintains Barcas’ 8 point lead over Madrid, "is a small step further, but it’s not over yet." Like all the Barcelona players Xavi bit his tongue when talking about the referee and didn’t want to comment much on the height of the grass on the pitch. "They’re in charge here," he said simply.

The second of the four “clásicos” will be on Wednesday in the Cup Final "We’ll try to dominate the game, show our personality and from there try to win," he said.

Here are comments from other players:

Dani Alves

"I don’t agree with the Referee’s decision because I played the ball cleanly and didn’t touch the player. Also, Marcelo told me that he had to go down".

"It’s better not to say anything else about the referee, they try to do their jobs."

"It's positive that they didn’t beat us, we must carry on like this because we have a super important game on Wednesday. Let's see if we have a bit more luck."

"We have to carry on like this, keep winning points and try to maintain our lead until the end".

"We are very motivated for the Cup, especially after this game. We deserved more, football always provides a new opportunity and that’ll come on Wednesday."

"We are in the same position, with a game less to go, it’s all super-positive."

"Everybody plays to their strengths and in the end they got the reward I don’t think they deserved".

Pedro Rodriguez

"We played really well. A draw is a good result because we still have the same lead."

"We don’t know how they’ll play in the Cup Final, we know it will be very difficult and really hard, but we’ll try to win".

"The final will be totally different. What happened here today won’t have any effect on that game."

Seydou Keita

"After the goal, we moved the ball about, and played really well".

"I don’t want to talk about the referee, but it’s not easy."