Rafael Benitez has claimed that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is 'too involved' with the day-to-day running of the Spanish club.

Benitez took charge of Los Blancos at the start of the season, but was removed from his position in January and replaced by Zinedine Zidane.

The experienced manager has said that his former club will continue to struggle in La Liga while Perez maintains his strong presence across all aspects of the football club.

"He's around, he's talking with players, he's talking with the press. He's always around, it's not easy for a manager, especially coming from England, to see the chairman talking with players or talking with the press every single day," Benitez told BT Sport.

"When you talk about consistency it is the key word because to win the league you have to be consistent. You have to fight against Barcelona and Barcelona has a style of football, a model of football and then Real Madrid is changing managers every year so you have to start again.

"That is the reason why Real Madrid has won one League title in the last seven, Atletico Madrid one and Barcelona five. Barcelona now has been in six cup finals in the last eight years. They've won more than double the trophies of Real Madrid in the time that the chairman is there, so I think it is because they are consistent and that is the key to win the league title."

Real Madrid have not won the La Liga title since 2012, with Barcelona dominating Spain's top flight in recent years.