Rafa Benitez has spoken about his Real Madrid departure, saying "you have to be perfect" at Santiago Bernabeu and complaining of impatience.

Benitez, sacked by Florentino Perez in January, appeared as a panellist on BT Sport for Madrid’s game at Roma, and was asked about his experience at the club.

“Obviously as someone who has come from the Academy of Real Madrid, I was really proud to be there every time that I was,” he said.

“It's a pity because we qualified [for the knockout stages of the Champions League] without losing any games and scoring a lot of goals.

“We were really pleased with the team and it's a pity that we're not there.

“It's difficult to explain. You need to know exactly what happened in Real Madrid in the last years.

“You could see [Jose Antonio] Camacho, [Vicente] Del Bosque, [Manuel] Pellegrini, [Jose] Mourinho, [Carlo] Ancelotti…it's not easy to be there manager there.

“You have to do everything perfect. As soon as something is wrong or the chairman thinks that it's wrong then you're used to having problems. I think that we were quite good, as I said before.

“I think that we could do really well but they were a little bit nervous and the fans were a little bit nervous and the chairman was a little bit nervous then they change the manager.”

Benitez also criticised the interference of club president Perez, saying that Real need consistency if they are to challenge the hegemony of Barcelona.

Benitez referred to comments made by his Madrid assistant, Fabio Pecchia, who recently alluded to the level of control President Perez attempts to exert, and suggested Perez’s whims were detrimental to the club.

“[Pecchia said] there is a permanent presence of [Perez]. He's around, he's talking with players, he's talking with the Press,” Benitez agreed.

“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.

“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.”

Benitez was asked directly about Perez and if he is acting in the best interest of the club.

“He did a great job in terms of business. Real Madrid needed to improve the business part of the club and he did really well,” Benitez noted.

“In football the problem is that Barcelona is still winning and winning, so he's changing because he's trying to find solutions but still Barcelona is winning more every year. That is the big problem for Real Madrid now.

“I'm frustrated a little bit because I was sacked. As someone who for 20 years worked at Real Madrid as a player and a coach to go there and see the players who you could see were really competitive, good professionals.

“To see that you couldn't control things in the way that you would like to do it and then improve the team as a team is a little bit frustrating, yes.”

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