Cruyff blasts Barca board after Atletico loss

The legendary Dutchman, who won the La Liga title as both a player and a coach at Camp Nou, spoke out after Barca were dumped out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage by La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid.

Cruyff accused certain board members of selling players without previous coaches' agreement, and claimed the Catalan giants are in a worse state since the appointment of Josep Maria Bartomeu as president.

"I said a long time ago, whoever decides your team is the coach and for four years it's not been the coach of the club," he told Sport.

"What is happening is logical. The first thing done by this directive was to sell a player (Pep) Guardiola wanted. And from then on, who's the boss? The coach?

"(Sporting director) Andoni Zubizarreta sold (Dymtro) Chygrynskiy against the will of the coach. The first problems started with Guardiola.

"Martino is doing what he can but it's hard when you have to be in charge but not be in charge.

"It's not one detail, it's many details. It's the coach who makes players better so the coach has to decide things.

"They've had four years and it's getting worse."