Midfielder Javier Mascherano insisted that right now Barcelona are a ‘complete team’ following the 2-1 Clasico defeat of Real Madrid.
Goals from Jeremy Mathieu and Luis Suarez eventually proved enough to see off a Madrid side that at times controlled the game, particularly during the first half, something the Argentine acknowledged afterwards.
“Football isn’t just about having possession. This club has a way of playing and we must respect that,” Mascherano told Canal Plus.
“However, football is about many things: pressuring, suffering, and being tactically shrewd. We have to be a complete team and that’s what we are right now.
“Teams like Madrid push you to the limit, both physically and mentally, and we made a great effort, especially as we also played during the week, but we came out on top and are very happy.”
Mascherano gave his assessment of the 90 minutes, whilst also maintaining that the race for the League title is far from over.
“Madrid are the best in the world at getting on top of you. We started well, controlled the game and scored, but that was when they started to press forward.
“We gave them too much room and lost the ball too often. We were more organised after the break, scored, and started to play our own game.
“But there’s still a long way to go and we have the Champions League to play for. We’d be wrong to take our foot off the gas.
“We’ve given ourselves a good chance and just have to keep going,” he asserted.
