Barcelona defender Araujo contradicts Xavi: We cannot use ref as excuse

Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo has contradicted coach Xavi after defeat at Real Madrid.

While Xavi laid the defeat at the hands of the match officials, particularly after VAR denied a goal scored from Lamine Yamal, Araujo insists blaming the referee is no excuse.

He said: "I don't like talking about refereeing. You have to see Lamine's goal, technology adjust it better ... but they are not excuses. We cannot use the referees as an excuse.

"We have failed in details, not only in this match, but also in the tie.

"Lamine's goal seems to me to have entered, but there are no excuses, we must continue."

Araujo also said: "This has been a difficult week. Our objective was to fight for the LaLiga."

On last week's row with Ilkay Gundogan, Araujo added: "We spoke. He asked for my forgiveness."