Former Real Madrid assistant confesses they were not good enough to take down Guardiola’s Barcelona | OneFootball

Real Madrid and Barcelona have had an eternal rivalry, one that will perhaps never die down, even over the years.

Many of the games they have faced off in over the years have been absolute classics to watch, but there is something special about the games played in the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Back when Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola were the managers of the two sides, that was when the rivalry hit its peak, but it was Guardiola’s Barcelona who had Real Madrid’s number back then.

After all, that Golden Generation of Barcelona was a real force to reckon with, one that even Los Blancos did not have many answers to.

A direct conversation

Jose Mourinho’s second at the time, Aitor Karanka, recently met and spoke to former Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas on his podcast.

One of the topics they touched upon during their interaction was that of the Clasicos they played against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, particularly the four Clasicos in quick succession in May 2011 (two UCL semifinals, a league game and a Copa del Rey finale).

Casillas directly asked his former assistant manager if he thought the team were ready to take on Barcelona back then, saying,

“Do you think we were prepared for those four games in such a short space of time?”

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To that, Karanka honestly responded in the negative and added that the team would perhaps never have been ready to challenge that prime Barcelona neck to neck.

“Seeing it now, maybe not.

“Looking at it with perspective, you think that there were still bad things, other very good ones. But after 15 years, people still remember those Classics,” he added.

Elaborating on the team’s performance back then, Jose Mourinho’s former assistant said,

“There were things we all could have done differently and better.”

He then added that the Barcelona team at that time was too seasoned for Real Madrid, which was just getting started with a new project.

“It would have been different in the third year, or the second. But it happened as soon as we arrived.”