Barcelona player claims they can compete for trophies despite 5th consecutive El Clasico loss

Nevertheless, like manager Xavi Hernandez, Pique is of the belief that Barcelona deserved to win on Wednesday. “The only ‘but’ is that we have not won. We played really well. We took the game on and took risks.,” he said before downplaying Real Madrid’s goals which manager Carlo Ancelotti described as “spectacular.” Pique said, “at the end of the day, they’ve won the semifinal on a counter when we weren’t able to get back and they got a lot of players forward.”

Despite getting knocked out of the Supercopa de Espana and trailing Real Madrid by 17 points in La Liga, Pique is under the impression that the club is closer to fighting for titles than it may seem. “I’m really proud of the team. Playing like this we’re going to start winning and compete for trophies.”

He and Xavi agree that they can leave Saudi Arabia with their heads held high after what they see as a strong performance against the most in-form team in the league at the moment. “After equalising and going to extra time, playing with three at the back, going man to man against quality players like Vinicius and Benzema, to compete as we have done against Madrid, who are having a great season, means we leave with out heads up,” he said.

Pique fully believes that they are on course to getting back to winning ways, and there is no better way to look at it. Like Xavi, he is happy to be getting some players back from injury like goalscorer Ansu Fati as well as several others who have just recovered from Covid-19.