Quesada left fuming as Real Madrid “stop believing” in hefty Barcelona defeat

Madrid, Spain – Real Madrid head coach Pau Quesada delivered an unsparing assessment of his side’s 2-6 capitulation to Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final, admitting his players “stopped believing” once the goals began to flow at the Estadio Alfredo di Stéfano on Wednesday night.

Barcelona struck after just six minutes and maintained a relentless tempo, cancelling out both of Linda Caicedo’s replies almost immediately to establish a commanding four-goal cushion ahead of next Thursday’s return at the Spotify Camp Nou.

Addressing the media moments after the final whistle, the 33-year-old apologised to the club’s supporters and did not hide from the scale of the setback.

“I don’t think that they deserved the way that we played today,” Quesada said. “We were far from the version of ourselves that we wanted. Against a great opponent, you can’t afford to lose focus twice in the game because they’ll make you pay for it.”

The coach reserved his sharpest criticism for the mental collapse that followed each Barcelona goal.

“What angers me the most is that we stopped believing in what we were doing after conceding. You can concede but you can’t stop believing and you can’t stop doing what you’ve been working on. We get a bit down and that’s partly what sets us apart from the teams that are fighting to win the Champions League.”

Quesada conceded that the gulf in class was evident over the 90 minutes, praising the Catalan side’s composure under adversity.

“I think there’s some real distance between us and we’ve got to accept that. They showed that they’re a cut above us in terms of both pace and mental strength. They concede a goal and they don’t fall apart; when we concede, we struggle to carry on.”

With a Liga F clash against the same opponents looming on Sunday, the coach challenged his squad to summon a swift response.

“We’ve been left with a sour taste in our mouths and we can change that on Sunday. We’ve got to accept that we played a bad game, and we’ve got to turn things around to win the Clásico on Sunday in front of our fans who really deserve it.”

The defeat leaves Real Madrid requiring a miraculous turnaround in the second leg if they are to keep their European dream alive, but Quesada insists the immediate priority is restoring pride before the next meeting in the domestic league.