RONALDO: REF DIDN'T LET US WINReal Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo claims Barcelona get a lot of "outside help" and has accused Javier Mascherano of "cheating".The Portuguese winger was left in a foul mood following Real's Champions League exit at the hands of Barca on Tuesday night.
A 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp was not enough for Jose Mourinho's men, as they crashed out of Europe's premier club competition 3-1 on aggregate.
A 2-0 defeat in the first leg of an eagerly-anticipated clash proved to be Real's undoing, with the fallout from a fiery encounter at the Bernabeu still ongoing.
Real raised countless complaints after that encounter over what they considered to be unfair officiating.
The capital giants saw their pleas fall on deaf ears, as UEFA made it clear that no action would be taken, and their sense of injustice was heightened following their midweek trip to Catalunya.
Ronaldo believes favouritism towards Barca once again cost Real dear, with the game having been taken away from Mourinho's side before it had even begun.
"We knew we could beat Barca, but the referee didn't let us," he said."Once again it was the referee that didn't allow us to dictate the outcome."The referee in the first match (Wolfgang Stark) took away our chances of playing the final. Whoever knows anything about football knows that Barcelona get preferential treatment."Barcelona are a difficult team to beat because they get outside help. Next year they should give the cup directly to them."Real's blood was boiling again on Tuesday after they saw a Gonzalo Higuain goal disallowed for an apparent foul by Ronaldo on Barca's Mascherano.
Ronaldo, who was pulled up for a trip, maintains that he did nothing wrong and has questioned the tactics employed by Barca and their Argentine enforcer.
"Javier Mascherano wasn't like this at Liverpool," added the former Manchester United playmaker."He must have learned all these cheating tricks at Barcelona."Ronaldo's team-mate Xabi Alonso also feels the performance of the referees cost them a place in the Wembley final.
He said: "When we scored the first goal it would have been totally different and we feel so many bad decisions have been made against us and we are not happy about that.
"We think we did a good job but decisions went against us, we really feel that way."
The former Liverpool midfielder claimed that Higuain's disallowed goal would have altered the nature of the tie in Madrid's favour as the game was still deadlocked at 0-0 at the time.
"It would have changed everything, our position would have been much stronger and after that it was much more difficult," he said.
Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka claimed the performance of the officials proved his side had no chance of making it through to the Champions League final.
"(Jose) Mourinho was right," Karanka said.
"He said that it would be impossible for us to go through. This proved that it was impossible and 100 million people saw it - there is nothing more to add."
Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who kept his side in the game with a string of fine saves in the first half, was also frustrated at the decision to disallow Higuain's strike.
"It has happened again - just like always," he said after the game.
"Playing 11 against 11 we have shown we can compete without complexes and it takes me back to the first game; if we had finished 0-0 (the score before Pepe was sent off), tonight's 1-1 would have taken us through to the final."
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