Barcelona maestro Xavi refused to be drawn on a war of words with Real Madrid and celebrated his side’s Copa del Rey win by hinting at a new contract (Barcelona 5/4 – La Liga outright).

Barca booked a place in the semi-finals of the competition by edging a stormy two-legged quarter-finals meeting with Spain’s capital club 4-3 on aggregate.

The holders threatened a comeback when they recovered a 2-0 deficit at Camp Nou but could not find a late goal in another bad-tempered ‘El Clasico’ which featured eight yellow card to the visitors, including two to Sergio Ramos – the 13th dismissal of his Bernabeu career.

Jose Mourinho later claimed that some of his Real Madrid players believe it is “impossible to win” against Barca but Xavi said they were lucky Lassana Diarra was spared a red card (Real Madrid 4/7 – La Liga outright).

He said: “The referee issue is relative. When you finish a game you think that he was against you but Madrid thinks the same thing, even though the red card [play] from Lass was obvious. I think the ref called the game fairly.”

The World Cup winner also revealed he would be happy to extend his stay in Catalonia and had no desire to leave the La Liga champions.

He added: “I’m really enjoying this period. From now on every season is an extra year. I love Barca, they have the best team in the world and I hope to remain here for many years to come.”