Speaking in an exclusive interview with MARCA, former Real Madrid playmaker and club icon Mesut Ozil has fired shots at Barcelona ahead of Sunday’s El Clasico.
Real Madrid play hosts to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday and a defeat for the Blaugrana would all but confirm the capital club’s coronation as new La Liga champions.
Ozil claims Barcelona have fallen off
During the interview, Mesut Ozil claimed that the El Clasico rivalry is no longer as strongly competed as before because Barcelona have fallen off in recent times.
“At that time it was the most important match in world football. Unfortunately for us, Pep’s Barça was perhaps the best Barça in history. It was at another level, certainly different from today’s Barça,” he said.
“I think that right now worldwide attention is more focused on games like Liverpool-Manchester City or other Premier League duels. Here I think the Clásico has gone down and that’s a shame.”
“But that’s not Real Madrid’s fault, as they are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the world. The problem is Barça, who have lost potential,” Ozil added.
Talking about Sunday’s Clasico, Ozil insisted that Real Madrid are the favourites, before going on to claim that Barcelona must look at themselves rather than complaining about referees all the time, referring to past comments made by Xavi and Joan Laporta.
“Barcelona are struggling, they are trying. They have good players in all positions, but they have had too many injuries this season and maybe they should look a bit more at themselves and their mistakes and stop complaining about the referees all the time,” he remarked.
The former German international then added that the rivalry between Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid was the pinnacle of football, saying:
“I would say yes. Even today many fans still miss that era, the pinnacle of football
