Recent months have seen the Madrid based media, in particular sports dailies AS and Marca, take an increasingly hard line on Mourinho, including some very heavy criticism of his both his professional and personal behaviour, which has included rows with Madrid reserve team coach Alberto Toril, goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Marca journalist Anton Meana.

Pique told journalists after training at Barcelona’s Ciutat Deportiva on Monday morning that he felt the storm of criticism had more to do with Madrid losing games on the pitch than any moral stance taken by the journalists.

“It makes me laugh because I remember that when Madrid won, Mourinho was allowed do anything,” Pique said. “He came here and poked Tito in the eye. How many games was he banned for? Zero. Now that Mourinho is taking on Iker, that he locked up a journalist [to yell at him], there is criticism. Mourinho has always been like this, ever since he arrived. He was allowed do anything.”

Pique also included Catalan papers such as Mundo Deportivo and Sport in his comments, saying that he did not think the media should just be a cheerleader for ‘their’ team.

“I do not think the press should act like this,” he said. “I am just saying this for Barcelona, but also for Madrid. Barca do not do everything well. But if you look at the front pages of Mundo Deportivo and Sport, it seems like the club does everything well. I say the same for both sides, for Madrid and for Barcelona.”

Pique also believes that injuries and suspensions were to blame for Madrid’s 0-0 draw at Osasuna on Saturday night, not bad coaching from Mourinho or a bad attitude from the players.

“It did not look to me like Madrid had thrown in La Liga,” he said. “They went without four or five very important players. I believe they had the right attitude. Madrid have never based their game on playing great football. They have intensity and ambition. They ‘eat up’ their opponent. You could see they missed their injured players.”

Barcelona took advantage of Madrid’s latest stumble to open up an 18 point gap on their rivals with Sunday’s 3-1 in Malaga, a game which completed a first half of the La Liga season with 18 wins and one draw in 19 games.

Pique said it was impossible to really say whether Tito Vilanova’s Barca side were better than that of Pep Guardiola in recent seasons, and anyway this year’s side had won nothing yet.

“There will be opinions for every taste,” he said. “I think we are playing really well. We have been at our most comfortable in these last games. But what counts is trying to win the three trophies (La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League). That is what we did with Pep (in 2008-09) and we will try to do it with Tito.”

Pique also suggested that the current Barca team had more tactical options than in previous seasons.

“We can play in various ways,” he said. “Tito has gone with more midfielders in the last games. The first year we won the treble we had a settled team, but I feel this year the team has more options. This year we have a very competitive squad.”

Such flexibility would be useful as Barca face into a busy spell, starting with Wednesday’s Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg at home to Malaga.

“The Copa del Rey and the Champions League will help us keep our rhythm going,” he added. “We are starting into Copa, Liga, Copa, and it will be non-stop. It is best for us to play every three days than every weekend. That everyone plays is very good for the team.”

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It was a miserable night for Madrid, who was without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, with Kaka sent off 19 minutes after coming on as a substitute, while Jose Maria Callejon had a goal disallowed for a borderline offside decision.

The result means Madrid is 15 points behind La Liga leader Barcelona, which plays Malaga on Sunday, and four behind neighbor Atletico.

Osasuna had the better of the second half and could have won, but its final ball continually let them down.

Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who had been dropped by Mourinho for the past two league games, returned to the side with replacement Antonio Adan suspended following his red card last time out.

Ronaldo was suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season last week, and his absence was keenly felt.

Mourinho acknowledged the strong performance of Casillas but would not guarantee the club captain will be in the starting side next week.

In our last two games, the team has played well defensively, and (Casillas) has been a part of that,” Mourinho explained. “I liked how he played against Celta as well, rising to the occasion to give his team a boost. Nevertheless, it is still too early to tell if he will play against Valencia on Tuesday.”

There was little of note in the opening stages with neither team creating any clear openings.

Osasuna’s Damia’s opening shot went wide, and it took until the 25th minute for Madrid to have an effort on goal, with Angel Di Maria firing past the post.

Madrid was finding it a struggle to get in behind the hosts’ defense, and when Fabio Coentrao found himself unmarked on the left of the area, rather than provide a crisp pass to the onrushing Gonzalo Higuain, the defender headed the ball into the ground and the hosts cleared.

Callejon’s back header narrowly cleared the bar for Madrid and as the half wore down, Osasuna midfielder Alvaro Cejudo blazed a half-volley high and wide.

Madrid failed to take advantage of a good chance in the final minute when Callejon set up Coentrao with the goalkeeper out of position but he fired wide.

The second half started much as the first ended with plenty of possession for Madrid but no clear openings.

Two quick-fire corners for Osasuna ended with Manuel Lolo heading over when he could have directed it across Casillas and into the far corner, but the hosts were enjoying a threatening spell, with Emiliano Armenteros forcing the goalkeeper to go down to his left.

The tempo of the game had risen considerably and Osasuna sensed it could take all three points, an outcome that appeared more possible when Madrid was reduced to 10 men.

Kaka had only been on the pitch for two minutes when he was booked and when he did not retreat so Osasuna could take a quick free kick, he was given a second yellow in the 77th minute.

However, it was Madrid that thought it had taken the lead moments later, but Callejon was judged to have been offside in a borderline decision.

Karim Benzema forced Fernandez to go down to collect his shot in Madrid’s first shot on target in the second half but it was one of the last kicks of a miserable game for the visitors.

Roberto Soldado took his tally to 17 goals for the season as Valencia beat Sevilla 2-0 and continued its improvement since Ernesto Valverde replaced Mauricio Pellegrino as coach.

Los Che made it seven wins from eight games under Valverde to move up to seventh a point behind Malaga in the final Champions League spot in fourth. Sevilla remains 12th in the table following the loss.

Soldado netted from close range five minutes into the second half then wrapped up the win in the closing moments with a header from a Pablo Piatti corner to make it 11 La Liga goals for the season.

Patrick Ebert inspired Valladolid with two goals and an assist as it claimed its first win in five games over Mallorca with a 3-1 victory.

The German fired the hosts into the lead with a wonderful strike from 20 yards after 21 minutes but Mallorca was level before halftime as Victor rose to head home Javier Arizmendi’s cross 16 minutes later.

Ebert proved the difference in the dying minutes as Oscar Gonzalez turned home his cross three minutes from time and the former Hertha Berlin man then went through on goal and jinked past Dudu Aouate before slotting into an empty net.

Sergio Garcia’s first-half goal was enough to hand Espanyol a crucial three points as it moved out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo.

The former Spanish international gave the hosts the perfect start as he tapped home Christian Stuani’s cross from close range on 23 minutes, and despite having more of the ball after the break, Celta struggled to create clear-cut chances.

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