Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho refused to blame his players after losing the first-leg of their Copa tie with Barcelona last night.
Eric Abidal proved an unlikely matchwinner as Barcelona came from behind to beat Real.
"The responsibility is mine. I am responsible for my team, especially when we lose. Victory has many parents and we all celebrated our Copa del Rey title, but defeats belong only to me. That's fine. I accept it as part of football."Mourinho said afterwards: "A 1-0 score is a bad result for the visitors and we expected Barcelona to dominate more and leave spaces as they looked for a strike, but we conceded that set piece strike. A team that wants to defeat Barcelona cannot concede that sort of goal. We expected to have more chances to counterattack. Conceding that strike right after half-time affected both sides on a psychological level; it was good for them and they eventually netted a second goal.
