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The head coach of Barcelona, Gerardo Martino, could not praise his players after the victory against Real Madrid in the press conference, and did not criticize the referees, even though they made questionable decisions during the match.
According to the Catalan club's strategist, the team's newcomer Neymar played a great game, but he can play even better.
"Neymar really played very well, but I think he can play even better. The team looked especially good in the first half and we did a huge job. After the break, it was a bit harder, as Barcelona likes to control the ball," shared the impressions of the Argentine.
The coach did not want to discuss the decisions made by referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco during the match. The referee from Navarre did not award a penalty kick after Pepe's foul on Cesc Fabregas, and in the second half ignored Cristiano Ronaldo's demand for a penalty kick after contact with Javier Mascherano.
G. Martino also praised Alexis Sanchez, who scored a great goal, and Lionel Messi.
"Since the end of last season, Alexis has been playing very well. If scoring a goal helped him gain more fans, I am happy about that. Did Lionel not score a goal? I see nothing wrong in that. This time he helped his teammates defend more and did his work qualitatively," evaluated the coach.
According to the coach, he decided to replace Andres Iniesta and send Alex Song onto the field to strengthen the team's defense.
"If the match were to unfold in a similar scenario, I would make this change again. We needed to strengthen the defense and we wanted to win," explained G. Martino.
The coach of the Catalan team admitted that he was satisfied with the outcome of the match, but confessed that he did not feel any special joy: "If this had been the last round, we could have triumphed, but now it was just another round of matches."
