Pique Blasts Madrid’s First Half Performance Despite El Clasico Defeat
Gerard Pique has labelled Real Madrid’s first half display against Barcelona in the El Clasico on Sunday as the worst he has seen from Zinedine Zidane’s men.
Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu to take charge at the top of the La Liga table.
Pique was instrumental in Los Blancos’ opening goal as he diverted Vinicius Junior’s effort past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen before substitute Mariano Diaz sealed all three points for the home side in stoppage time.
Barcelona had the better of the first half opportunities but could not take their chances before Real Madrid dominated the second half and took all three points.
After suffering a first El Clasico league defeat since April 2016, Pique rued Barcelona’s failure to take advantage of a below-par performance from Real Madrid in the opening 45 minutes.
"Madrid in the first half was the worst Madrid I've faced at the Bernabeu," Pique told reporters. "We missed a chance to hurt them.
"We have to play better than in the second half, though. We lost balls and they grew in confidence.
"The feeling they [Madrid] transmitted was the worst, and I don't say it as a criticism. We all have problems in our clubs. But I have the feeling that it's an important missed opportunity.
"We are not very well, I say we lost the opportunity to hit the table. We had full control of the game. In the second half, we let them grow based on our losses and they scored a goal, and in the end the second one.
"It is a missed opportunity. In the first half, if we had taken advantage of several chances, we would have left with an advantage on the scoreboard."
