Jose Mourinho has slammed Real Madrid’s “soft performance” in their 1-0 Clasico defeat to Barcelona on Saturday.
Ivan Rakitic scored in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu and the Croatian’s goal stood up as the only tally of the match.
With the loss, Madrid fell 12 points behind first-place Barcelona, effectively ending their La Liga title hopes for the season.
Mourinho, who managed Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013, saw his former team low on confidence in Saturday’s Clasico.
“It was not the performance of a team with great belief and self-esteem.
“Clearly they are now in a zone after a few bad results, especially in the cup match, where they are in a low.”
“They couldn’t bring to the game what I used to call the temperature of the big matches,” Mourinho continued.
“They were passive. I cannot speak about a bad performance, it’s not a bad performance, I think it’s just a soft performance.”