Barca left fuming after late penalty call denied by referee

Real Madrid defender Pepe has said it is perfectly prepared for the Champions League clash with Manchester United on Tuesday after it secured a second win over Barcelona in less than five days on Saturday.

The Spanish champion even had the luxury of resting a number of key players as Jose Mourinho made seven changes from the side that had beaten Barca 3-1 in the Copa del Rey in midweek and Pepe believes that only goes to show the incredible wealth of options Mourinho has to choose from.

"We have hit our best form. Apart from (Iker) Casillas, we have everyone available and the manager has great solutions on the bench as today showed," he said after the 2-1 victory.

"We have achieved two important victories given the form and quality of the opponent we were playing and that gives us great motivation for the Manchester United game. We are happy and now we need to rest and think about the game on Tuesday."

Sergio Ramos' header proved to be the winner nine minutes from time after Lionel Messi had equaled Alfredo di Stefano's record of 18 goals in meetings between the two in the first half to cancel out Karim Benzema's opener.

But Barca was left furious at the end when Messi wasn't given the chance to salvage a point for his side when referee Miguel Perez Lasa turned down strong penalty claims in stoppage time after Ramos appeared to have felled Adriano inside the area.

The appeals were so ferocious that goalkeeper Victor Valdes was shown a red card after the final whistle had gone and Pepe was quick to point out the Barca players had let themselves down by the way they reacted towards the referee.

"I didn't see the incident clearly because it happened behind me. People have said to me that it is not a penalty and the referee had a good game, he didn't benefit one team or the other.

"I saw situations which I never thought I would see with Barca. The way they surrounded the referee at the end to protest is not the lovely image that they try to portray every day. They will be sad having lost two games to us."

Once again it was Barca's defensive weaknesses that were exposed as for the first time since 1962 it has conceded goals in 13 consecutive games.

However, defender Jordi Alba insisted that despite three defeats in four games the Catalans were still confident of overcoming a 2-0 deficit against AC Milan in their own crucial Champions League tie in just over a week's time.

"We leave without a point but we still have a good lead over Atletico and Real Madrid. It was a very even game and the fair result would have been a draw," he said.

(China Daily 03/04/2013 page23)