Former Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini believes his chances of bringing success to the Santiago Bernabeu was undermined by president Florentino Perez's chaotic transfer policy.
The Chilean coach was sacked by Madrid in the summer following a season in which the club ended up without a trophy, despite a huge outlay of 250 million euros last summer.
Pellegrini, who has been replaced by Jose Mourinho, agrees that he had some of the world's finest talent at his disposal in his sole season at the Bernabeu, but claims the squad was unbalanced.
"They sign the best players, but not the best players needed in a certain position," he told Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.
"It's no good having an orchestra with the 10 best guitarists if I don't have a pianist - Real Madrid have the best guitarists, but if I ask them to play the piano they won't be able to do it so well," he added.
While Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo were brought in last summer, Holland midfielders Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder were sold by incoming president Perez.
The two went on to have hugely successful seasons with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan respectively, winning a host of trophies domestically before meeting in the Champions League final at the end of May and playing together in the World Cup final last Sunday.
Pellegrini says the two should have been kept.
"(Perez) sold players that I considered important. We had a difference of opinion with regards to the building of the squad," he said.
"We didn't win the Champions League because we didn't have a squad properly structured to be able to win it - that was my main discrepancy with Florentino Perez."
Despite ending up without a title, Pellegrini led Madrid to their most successful season ever in terms of league points, pushing champions Barcelona all the way until the last round of Primera Division matches.
Nevertheless, the former Villarreal coach believes he would have been axed even if he had managed to win the Primera Division title.
"Even if I had won the league I would have been out," he said.
"I didn't have a voice or a vote."