Heated exchanges happen more often than not in the clásico, and last week Barcelona's Jordi Alba was caught on camera trash talking the Croatian midfielder of Real Madrid, Mateo Kovačić.
Spanish TV show El Día Después caught the war of words between the two last Saturday. While waiting for a set-pieice to be delivered, Jordi Alba can be heard in full view saying "You're an idiot, learn to speak Spanish, fool. Learn to speak first, you moron. Walk on, shut up, you simpleton," to the Croatian international.
Whatever tMateo Kovačić said in return, it wasn't picked up as the camera faced his back. The trash talk between the two did result in Dani Carvajal fouling Neymar. Curiously enough, referee Clos Gómez was standing nearby but did not intervene.
Jordi Alba was later spotted arguing with Carvajal insisting the Real Madrid right-back handled the ball inside the area, but the atmosphere was friendlier compared to his exchange with Kovačić and the two even shared a smile.
But Mateo Kovačić does speak Spanish, along with four other languages. The Real Madrid midfielder actually knows how to speak Croatian, German, English, Italian and Spanish. For proof, see the video from the tweet below:
Here is @MateoKova16 (22) speaking fluently in 5 different languages (Croatian, German, English, Italian & Spanish).
Your turn @JordiAlba. pic.twitter.com/2NA0IQwjvF
— CroSports (@CroSports_) December 6, 2016
The 22 year old midfielder must have picked up Italian following his time with Inter from 2013 - 2015, and Spanish with Real Madrid. While Mateo Kovačić doesn't regularly start for the club, his performance along with Lucas Vasquez in recent games have continued to impress Real Madrid boss Zidane.
Jordi Alba's getting backlash from fans who are saying his insults are bordering xenophobic. Not to mention it doesn't even make sense given Mateo Kovačić can speak Spanish fine, and knows five languages to boot. Kovačić even spoke Catalan in his presentation for Real Madrid last summer.
Watch the exchange below as it happened:
