Speaking at a press conference, Dani Alves rued Barcelona's failure to put the 'Copa del Rey' semi-final to bed in the first leg. "We didn't take our chances. We could have come away with a better result. But the most important thing was scoring there, and we did so".

Alves also slammed the performance of referee Clos Gómez, accusing him of lacking the bottle to book Cristiano Ronaldo, a yellow card which would have ruled the Portuguese star out of the second leg. "We all know the way these things work. There's nothing we can do about it. People talk and talk, but I still don't understand how Cristiano's challenge didn't deserve a yellow card. I would have got a red card and then some. But if he'd booked him, then the second leg would lose interest for lots of people, because there would be no battle with Messi".

The Brazilian also discussed the racist chanting levelled at him by some sections of the crowd: "I never considered leaving the pitch, but it's upsetting. I don't mean only at the Bernabéu; I mean at all grounds. Racism problem in Spain is a lost war. They can like you or not, but people should stick to cheering on their team – there is no place for any of that other stuff".

Alves didn't hold back when discussing Real Madrid's tough approach: "Ever since I've been at Barça, they've always tried to push the limits a bit. There are people out there who are supposed to keep a rein on that. We just try to play football. I don't want to get into any controversy".