The Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde tried to raise his players’, and the fans’, morale by saying his team did not feel inferior to Real Madrid, despite the defeat in the Super Cup on Sunday.

“Admit that the opponent is better? Of course, not. They could be [better] at a given time, or could be more clinical, is obvious, you just have to look at the result. But we don’t feel inferior, not to Madrid, not to Atléti, not to Bayern, or anyone”.

He also insisted that Barça could turn the tie around: “Nothing is impossible, we’ll stick to our idea of winning the game, we’re not giving it up as lost beforehand,” he promised.

In contrast, he preferred not to talk about Cristiano Ronaldo’s suspension, saying “I don’t know if it’s fair or not. I don’t understand suspensions because I don’t know much about the law,” he said with a certain irony.