Soccer: Real-Barca feud deepens ahead of clash

Xavi Hernandez, the Barcelona midfielder, described Real Madrid's behaviour as "lamentable" and "pathetic" yesterday as relations between the two clubs continued to plumb new depths on the eve of their Champions League semi-final second leg.

Real Madrid made an official complaint to Uefa over what they said was a systematic play-acting campaign from Barcelona, but Europe's governing body threw out the claims yesterday. Real have also complained about racist abuse from Sergi Busquets and reacted angrily to Uefa dismissing their complaints.

"We're Real Madrid, a club with over 100 years of history," said assistant coach Aitor Karanka, standing in for the suspended Jose Mourinho.

"I think Uefa has Fair Play and respect branded on everything, but now there are players at Barcelona that don't respect that with racist comments and they are not punished." A video on Real's website appears to show Busquets turn to the Madrid defender Marcelo and call him a "mono" - monkey in Spanish.

Xavi said: "Everything that is happening is lamentable. Uefa have thrown out Real Madrid's complaints and rightly so. It is all so pathetic for Madrid to report Barcelona to Uefa."

Madrid and Barcelona had both made formal complaints but Uefa said they would not even consider pursuing the accusations from Madrid and that they were already investigating Real and so had no need for Barcelona's either. Real had offered video evidence that they said showed BarAa players trying to provoke the opposition. But Uefa said there was no evidence that such a strategy existed. Uefa also refused to review Pepe's red card for a foul on Daniel Alves in which Real claimed no contact was made.

On Friday Uefa will decide on Mourinho's punishment for his post-match comments, with four games the most likely sanction. Mourinho's stock has fallen drastically in the last week, with footballing dignitaries queuing up to condemn his behaviour. The Switzerland coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, twice a Champions League-winning coach with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, said Mourinho's tactics were unbecoming of a club of Real Madrid's stature.

"Luckily, Mourinho's destructive tactics, aimed solely at provoking and destroying the opponents' game plan, did not work," Hitzfeld told German football magazine Kicker. "Such a way of playing is really shameful for Real Madrid. It harms the good name and image of this legendary club."

That came after former Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink said Mourinho should apologise to Barcelona. "I don't agree with him. Chelsea were hard done by with some of the decisions but I would never talk of a plot. Mourinho went too far," he said. "You can always argue about refereeing decisions but if Alves's leg is planted to the ground he breaks it. If he looks at the images then Mourinho should apologise."

He also joined Hitzfield in criticisms of how Mourinho played the first leg. He said: "In the first leg BarAa was like the bullfighter and Madrid the rather feeble bull who never attacked."

Real Madrid directors are due to sit down with their Barcelona counterparts tomorrow for the customary pre-match lunch, although pleasantries will be in short supply. Some images that were used to support the claim that Pepe had not touched Alves later turned out to be digitally altered.

Xavi denied that the bad blood between the two sides would now affect players' relations when they meet up to play for Spain.

"I don't want to think it will affect the national team. We have won too much together for it to have any lasting effect."

And with one last dig at Madrid he predicted a different approach in the second leg. "We have to go on the attack. But we have to be prepared in case they attack," he said.

"They have been ultra-defensive so far. Their game will have to change now because of how the first leg finished. We would like a rival that wants to take us on - a team that wants to play attacking football."

Xavi also attacked Madrid for their tactic of not cutting the grass at the Bernabeu ahead of the first of the three recent clasicos. "It makes no sense," he said.

"There should be a law about the pitch. It is important for the fans and for the quality of football. There are laws about everything but there is no rule about the length of the grass."