Menotti: Real affected by Barca thrashing

Former Barcelona coach Cesar Menotti said that Real Madrid are afraid of their arch-rivals ever since they were beaten 5-0 in La Liga last season.

Pep Guardiola’s side hammered the Santiago Bernabeu side in November last year, and Menotti feels that Madrid have never really recovered since that heavy loss at Camp Nou, despite having met several times since.

“I would be hard pressed to come up with an important game similar to the one between Barcelona and Real Madrid that ended in 5-0,” Menotti said in an interview to Canal+.

“Obviously a result like that can happen, but it really was a huge blow to Madrid. I get the feeling that they have been afraid of Barca ever since that loss.”

“Madrid have shown fear and gave Barcelona way too much respect. They’ve had very few ideas of their own in order to really compete with Barca since that defeat.”

Despite Menotti’s assessment, Madrid will head into Saturday’s El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu three points clear of Barcelona with a game in hand.