Jordi Alba believes defeat to Real Madrid may help them against AC Milan

Barcelona defender Jordi Alba believes their Copa del Rey semi-final exit at the hands of Real Madrid will make them stronger for their upcoming crunch UEFA Champions League clash with AC Milan.

Barca fans would have felt their side had done the hard work in the semi-final after drawing 1-1 in the first leg at the Bernabeu, but Cristiano Ronaldo's 13th-minute penalty last night quickly wiped out their away goal. Ronaldo then doubled his account for the match in the 57th minute before Raphael Varane made it 3-0 11 minutes later. That left Barca needing to score four times in the final 20 minutes to go through, and all they could manage was Alba's 89th-minute effort. The Spain international said: "We're very annoyed, we wanted to get through to the final but the penalty and the second goal caused us a lot of damage. "We started very well, we've had chances but the penalty really hurt us." Dani Alves hopes his side can learn from the defeat, with Barca facing Madrid again in the league this weekend at the Bernabeu. "We didn't compete well, we traded blows and that's not our style, we need to learn from this," he said on his club's website. "There's no room for error if you don't compete well at this level. They are fast up front and they closed themselves off well at the back. "The fans know that we tried and they acknowledged our effort, but sadly at this level you can't give away chances." Midfielder Cesc Fabregas echoed those comments, adding: "We have to give more, we have to pick ourselves up, move forward and win on Saturday. "We have to learn from this...the two most important titles are coming up and we have to move forward."