Eurosport - Carlos Queiroz has reflected on his time as Real Madrid Coach, when the team lost an eight-point lead at the top of La Liga.

Queiroz took the Madrid bench in 2003-04 and guided Los Blancos to a significant advantage, only to see it crumble as Rafa Benitez’s Valencia stormed to top spot in a manner Madrid are hoping to replicate this season with Barcelona in their sights.

“Our team didn’t collapse after losing the Copa del Rey to Real Zaragoza. It was before, at the beginning of the season. It was a miracle that with the squad we had we were eight points clear of Valencia,” he told Cadena Cope, AS reports.

 “You can’t compare the squad Barcelona have right now with ours then. They are experienced players and the negative dynamics must not influence the quality of players Barca have. To my knowledge Barca haven’t sold Luis Suarez, as we sold Fernando Morientes to Monaco. And I know they haven’t sold Sergio Busquets, as we did Claude Makelele to Chelsea. Playing like Barca do, you always have a great chance of winning. Most likely the Barca players are tired after international matches in South America.”

Queiroz elaborated on the theme of the sale of important players, comparing what happened to his squad to not taking care of the basic elements of an expensive sports car.

 “I said a Ferrari without a wheel would have problems. Keeping Morientes would have been enough, without selling Makelele on the cheap and signing a good centre-back to replace Fernando Hierro,” Queiroz recalled.

“With all due respect, between Ronaldo and Javier Portillo there was a lot of difference, and I’m sorry for the love I have for him, but between Hierro and Ruben as well. Florentino Perez is a fantastic person but when you start to think you know a lot about football, you make mistakes. The President didn’t want to understand things and in the end I paid for it.”

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