Real Madrid fans taunt Barcelona with fake money and Xavi misses next game after gesture

The Catalans left the Bernabeu with a 1-0 lead in their Copa del Rey semi-final against Real, taking it to the Camp Nou where they have been in excellent form.

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Xavi now has three wins out of four against their rivals since being named Barca manager, but had to deal with a pre-match wind-up in Madrid.

Ahead of the game Los Blancos fans gathered outside to protest the 'Negreira case' in which Football Leaks allege a payment was made from Barca to former vice-president of the technical committee of referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, in 2015.

Fans held up a banner which read 'corruption in the federation' while they even went to such lengths of making fake €500 notes with Barca president Joan Laporta's face on.

Once the match kicked off, it was relatively low tempo, and decided by an Eder Militao own-goal when a Franck Kessie shot rebounded off him in the first half.

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Late on, things got heated when Xavi was booked for an argument with former teammate and Madrid defender Dani Carvajal.

The right back collided with Barca defender Alejandro Balde, and TV3 in Catalunya alleged that the manager said: "You're clever. Silly. What a fool you are, man."

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Xavi's comments came with a rather amusing hand gesture to his 2014 Spain World Cup teammate, but the two later embraced at full-time, showing there were no hard feelings.

That's not the end of the story for Xavi, though, as it was his fifth touchline booking of the season, meaning he will be suspended for a LaLiga clash with Valencia on Sunday.