Barca defeat no humiliation, says Mourinho

Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has denied his side were ‘humiliated’ by a 5-0 thumping at the hands of Barcelona on Monday.

The highly anticipated ‘El Clasico’ between La Liga’s two biggest clubs could not have been any more one-sided, as Barca routed Real and made their star-studded line-up – and treble-winning manager – look ordinary.

But Mourinho, who witnessed the worst loss of his managerial career, says Real have no reason to be despondent after being hammered by the Spanish champions at Camp Nou.

“One team played to their potential and one didn’t,” Mourinho told reporters after the match.

“Loss, yes – humiliation? No. It was a defeat we deserved, we just weren’t good enough.”

“I don’t think you can say it reflected the difference between the two sides. The championship isn’t over today.”

Mourinho backed his footballers to shake off the dispiriting loss and show the fortitude to continue their tilt for a 32nd league title.

“We are two points behind the leaders but there are lots of games left to play,” he said.

“We have to show character, train hard and get back to winning. I wish we were playing tomorrow.”

“You have to have character – when you lose by five goals you can’t leave crying, you have to go and work harder. You never want to lose by these numbers.”

“I have spoken to my players and I told them the season has not ended. Who knows what can still happen this year?”

Real midfielder Xabi Alonso rued Barca’s blistering start, saying goals to Xavi and Pedro inside the opening 18 minutes made the task ‘easier’ for the Catalan club.

“We didn’t expect a game like this but there’s a lot of the season left and this isn’t over,” Alonso said.

“Barcelona made things a lot easier for themselves by scoring the first so early and then getting the second quickly.”

“It’s been very difficult. We have to learn from the mistakes we’ve made.”