Dani Carvajal Says 'Football Is Being Unfair' to Real Madrid After Clasico Loss

Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal believes "football is being unfair" to Real Madrid after they slipped to their second Clasico defeat at home to Barcelona in three days on Saturday.

Los Blancos lost 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, having also gone down 3-0 against Barca in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final on Wednesday.

Carvajal feels Real's efforts deserved more than back-to-back losses, per Goal's Jamie Smith:

"Football is being unfair to us in these two games in which we have had chances to win them or at least not to lose them.

"We say goodbye to La Liga and we were at the gates of the cup final. But now it is time to get back up and fight for the Champions League and the league, though the truth is that the advantage against Barcelona is almost final.

"They have been two very intense Clasicos, even and matched, but they have been more decisive in the penalty areas. We are out of [the] cup and almost no options in the league."

On Saturday, the sides were separated by a 26th-minute goal from Ivan Rakitic. The Croat deftly lifted the ball over Thibaut Courtois after a one-two with Sergi Roberto released him into the penalty area on the right-hand side.

Real had 17 efforts on goal to Barcelona's 10, but they only managed to get three on target, one less than the visitors.

ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan did not believe Barca had been in much danger of failing to win the contest:

Real have met Barcelona four times this season and lost three times, shipping 10 goals and scoring twice.

It has been a dominant decade for the Catalan giants when playing Real in the Spanish capital—they have now won 11 of their past 18 matches there and lost just four times.

Sports writer Andy West also noted the uneven nature of recent meetings between the sides:

As a result of Barcelona's dominance, they have turned the tide against Real historically:

Los Blancos are 12 points behind Barca with 12 matches remaining, so winning La Liga looks well beyond them.

Their hopes of a successful season now rest on winning the UEFA Champions League for a fourth year running, but they will need to perform much better than they have in recent matches if they are to do so.

They will also hope to avoid Barcelona in the latter stages if both sides advance because their recent record would inspire little confidence that they could come out on top.