El Clasico is always a tense affair, with every player determined to win; insults are thrown in the heat of battle that never would be elsewhere.
Still, Jordi Alba found himself on the wrong end of an embarrassing gaffe when he threw out a bit of chat Mateo Kovacic's way, in Spanish. He told his opponent: 'You're an idiot, learn to speak Spanish, fool. Learn to speak first, you moron. Walk on, shut up, you're stupid.'
Jordi Alba a Kovacic: "Aprende a hablar español, tonto" https://t.co/H24bb4BJfN pic.twitter.com/9zo4Uah8lg
Unfortunately, he had failed to realise that Kovacic was actually able to understand every word of his cowardly insults - the Madrid player and Croatia internationalis well-versed in five languages, despite only being in Spain for eighteen months.
Video: Kovacic speaks Croatian, German English, Italian and Spanish pic.twitter.com/4HTXAyal8i [via @MarkoRMCF]
Now who's the idiot?
Barcelona's left-back made an amusing mistake here, but the Catalan club's fans won't be too pleased about the whole team's error in allowing Madrid to snatch a late equaliser in the match.
Luis Suarez had put them 1-0 up, but a late Sergio Ramos goal kept the visitors in prime position in the La Liga title race. Oops.