{"id":18979,"date":"2026-05-08T00:11:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/18979\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:11:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:11:43","slug":"barcelona-legend-weighs-in-on-real-madrid-rivalry-ahead-of-clasico-we-are-superior-as-a-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/18979\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona legend weighs in on Real Madrid rivalry ahead of Clasico – ‘We are superior as a team’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Barcelona defender Jordi Alba has shared his thoughts ahead of the upcoming El Clasico against Real Madrid<\/a>, stating that Hansi Flick\u2019s side has one major advantage over their biggest rivals.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with La Vanguardia<\/a>, Alba discussed several important topics surrounding Barcelona\u2019s season, including the arrival of Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid, the rise of La Masia talents, and the impact Flick has had on the squad.<\/p>\n

While comparing both teams ahead of El Clasico, Alba suggested that Barcelona currently function better collectively than Real Madrid despite the enormous talent available in Madrid\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, the atmosphere and the expectations that arise when a player of Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s calibre arrives have an influence. But I believe that football today is, above all, about being a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that sense, Barcelona are superior: they play as a team, everyone defends, everyone attacks. And, what\u2019s more, they enjoy playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Praise for Raphinha<\/p>\n

The former Barcelona defender also reserved special praise for Raphinha, who has become one of the team\u2019s most important players under Flick this season.<\/p>\n

Alba believes the Brazilian forward<\/a> has improved massively both mentally and tactically since his own departure from the club, especially after struggling initially to fully adapt at Barcelona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Raphinha has taken a big step forward since I left and since Flick\u2019s arrival. At first, he didn\u2019t have the easiest time of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe struggled to adapt and wasn\u2019t playing as much as he wanted to. Now I see him as motivated, full of confidence and keen to make his mark at the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attention then shifted toward Barcelona\u2019s young academy generation, with Alba making it clear that he sees La Masia as the biggest reason behind the club\u2019s domestic success this season.<\/p>\n

\"JordiJordi Alba says Barcelona have better harmony than Real Madrid. (Photo by Alex Caparros\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the league of those academy graduates who, in another era, wouldn\u2019t have had the chance to break into the first team so quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the club\u2019s circumstances, they\u2019re there, performing at a high level. I have to stick up for my own: for me, this is the league of La Masia.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCL disappointment\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite Barcelona\u2019s strong season, Alba admitted that the club\u2019s Champions League disappointment still hurts everyone connected to the team.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the difficulty of winning Europe\u2019s biggest competition, the former defender stated,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very difficult. It\u2019s a competition decided by small details. I speak to people within the club and I can see they\u2019re working hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Champions League title we all want so much will come soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Alba also spoke emotionally about Lionel Messi and his departure from Barcelona, admitting that he still believes the club owes the Argentine icon a proper tribute in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it didn\u2019t end in the best way. It was a real blow. Obviously, Bar\u00e7a has given Leo a lot, but he has given the club so much in return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see them pay tribute to him. Leo has defined an era,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Barcelona defender Jordi Alba has shared his thoughts ahead of the upcoming El Clasico against Real Madrid,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,223,4866],"class_list":{"0":"post-18979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-barcelona","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-barcelona-news","10":"tag-fc-barcelona","11":"tag-jordi-alba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}