Former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has spoken about Barcelona’s financial struggles over the past two years.

Pique hailed La Liga president Javier Tebas for bringing the joint TV rights deal, which has brought a level playing field for all the La Liga sides.

In his recent interview with Marca, Pique however warned that the La Liga giants like Real Madrid and Barcelona may also struggle to compete with Europe if there is no level playing field in Europe – as he pointed to the financial might of PSG and Manchester City.

He told Marca: “In La Liga and other football leagues you have to deal with many clubs with their own interests. That’s why the American concept of sport is much better for me than the European one.

“In the NBA, there are 30 franchises, and they all row in the same direction because they have the same interest.

“In Spain, for example, thanks to Javier Tebas, interests were somewhat put together by selling the joint TV rights. But there were many years when it wasn’t being done like that. A very big gap was created between Barca, Madrid, Atletico and the rest of the teams.”

He concluded: “For a long time we have been waiting for a ‘fair play’ at European level, but for political reasons it doesn’t exist. That means that teams like PSG and Man City have huge advantages for the reasons we already know.

“Barcelona and Madrid, who are owned by their own members and who do not invest their money, will find it increasingly harder to compete in Europe.”