Barcelona Boss Xavi Defends Real Madrid After Man City Champions League Humiliation

• Xavi Hernandez has shared his opinion on Real Madrid's shock defeat to Manchester City
• The Premier League champions put Madrid to the sword, beating Los Blancos 5-1 across two legs to reach the Champions League final
• But Barca boss Xavi believes his arch-rivals should be spared from criticism

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has leapt to the defence of Real Madrid following the latter's humiliating exit from the UEFA Champions League.

Los Blancos were handed their second-worst defeat in the history of Europe's premier competition on Wednesday, May 17, when a Bernardo Silva masterclass inspired Manchester City to a 4-0 rout of the Spanish giants.

According to Al Jazeera, the embarrassing nature of the result means Madrid will not have the chance to defend the trophy they won last season and only have the Copa del Rey title to show for their efforts this campaign after Xavi's Barcelona edged them to the La Liga crown.

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Since then, Real Madrid have come under a lot of scrutiny from both pundits and fans. However, in a rather surprising turn of events, Xavi has refused to join the bandwagon in criticizing the White Angels.

"I don't like the word 'baño' [thrashing] in football," Xavi said in a news conference on Friday, as quoted by ESPN when asked for his thoughts on Madrid being hammered in Manchester.

He continued: "Words like that and 'failure' are not constructive. Look, City were massively superior in the game this week, and they took advantage of that.

"That was not the case at the Bernabeu [in the first leg], but they were worthy winners overall. They are the best team in the world."

Man City smash Real Madrid

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Manchester City produced a stunning performance to reach the Champions League final as Bernardo Silva's double put Real Madrid to the sword in a 4-0 thrashing, securing a 5-1 aggregate win for the English champions on Wednesday.

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Eder Militao's own goal and Julian Alvarez's strike in stoppage time rounded off a memorable night for Pep Guardiola's men as they moved to within three wins of matching Manchester United's treble in 1998/99.

But it is a first-ever Champions League that City crave the most, and they will be strong favourites to finally conquer Europe against Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10.