Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova has explained why he chose to play Adriano instead of Alex Song at centre-back against Real Madrid on Sunday.

The 44-year-old claims that the Brazilian is quicker than the former Arsenal player and so started the Clasico at Camp Nou.

"Song knows the concepts, but still takes time to execute them," he said. "I preferred Adriano because he's faster, we needed that against Madrid.

"Congratulations to the defence, to [Martin] Montoya, Adriano, it's not easy to play in such a game in a defence without several starters.

"Our four defenders who would be starters - [Dani] Alves, [Gerard] Pique, [Carles] Puyol, [Eric] Abidal - weren't there. I'm very satisfied with how the others did."

Lionel Messi scored twice for Barca as they drew 2-2 with Madrid to remain eight points clear of the Spanish champions in La Liga.