It was a shock to see Sergio Busquets not in the lineup for Wednesday’s El Clasico tie at Camp Nou.
Ernesto Valverde later revealed that Busquets had missed the 0-0 La Liga draw due to illness.
He was originally named in the starting XI but was pulled out just before the start of the game. “It is true that Busquets was feeling bad, he had a fever, before the game,” Valverde told Movistar.
“We thought we could have used him in the second half but not in the end. The coach makes the decision based on what he sees.”
Barcelona and Real Madrid went at each other on both ends of the pitch, pulling in some heroic defensive efforts from both teams. However, neither could break the deadlock as they settle on sharing a point in this highly-anticipated tie.
“It was a very disputed match in which there were phases for both teams,” Valverde added. “They squeezed us high and created problems with high balls. That’s where we’ve suffered.”
On Madrid’s high pressing, Valverde said: “We expected this. In the end they are situations of individual duels that you must solve. Sometimes we have achieved it and sometimes not.”
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