Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Real Madrid's Nacho: Winning Champions League can silence Pique

Real Madrid defender Nacho says he is ignoring Gerard Pique as the Barcelona centre-back attempts to "wind up Madrid" again.

Pique has often poked fun at Madrid's struggles through recent times, including a joke about Cristiano Ronaldo's 30th birthday, making fun of their elimination from the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player by tweeting out emojis and regularly sparring with Blancos right-back Alvaro Arbeloa over social media.

Most recently, the Spain international had scoffed at an idea put forth by various media outlets in the Spanish capital that, although Barca have won La Liga, Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane had won his own "Liga" because his team got more points than anyone since he replaced Rafa Benitez in January.

Asked about Pique's comments, Nacho told Marca that he and his teammates would ignore Pique to focus on winning the season's "most important trophy" against Atletico.

"Pique loves to talk, we know how he is," Nacho said. "He likes to wind up Madrid, but I am not going there. I don't know why he would say that about the trophies, when on [May] 28 we are playing for the most important trophy of the season.

"We are focused on ourselves. The best response is to win the final, it would answer many things like that."

When asked if Madrid were somehow the more deserving La Liga champions, Pique told a news conference: "They can keep putting on whatever films they like in Madrid. We stick to what we do ourselves. Each year we add more trophies to our museum."

Looking forward to Sunday's Copa del Rey final against Sevilla, Pique said winning the Double would not be overshadowed no matter who won this season's Champions League.

"If Madrid win the Champions League, it will not take anything away from a possible [domestic] Double," Pique said. "I would take winning the Double every year. When both clubs win trophies, it seems whoever wins the Champions League deserves more praise, but it's not like that."

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