Former Barcelona defender Carles Puyol has admitted that he is furious over Real Madrid retaining the Champions League trophy for a third successive year.
Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 in the final in Kiev on Saturday night, extending their unbeaten record in the knockout stages of Europe since Zinedine Zidane's appointment as manager.
Meanwhile, Barcelona were knocked out by Roma in the quarter-finals, and Puyol is fuming that their rivals have excelled in the competition.
"I am convinced that we have a better team than Madrid, but they have won four of the last five Champions Leagues," Puyol told La Vanguardia.
"I think the solution comes from getting our priorities straight. We're losing an opportunity and I'm furious about that as a Barca fan. Winning the treble is extremely hard as statistics shows, so I think the most sensible thing would be to relegate the Copa del Rey. Don't get me wrong, I loved playing in the final, but the path there should be for the reserves and the young players to show if they are good enough or not.
"We have a great team and we have Leo [Messi], I think the Champions League has a much bigger global impact and also [impacts] on the Ballon d'Or. I have no doubt who is the best player in the world but Messi should be showing his talent above all in La Liga and in Europe, I'm sure he'd agree with me."
Barcelona's Lionel Messi has four Champions Leagues to his name, while Los Blancos star Cristiano Ronaldo clinched his fifth title at the weekend.
Matthew Jones
