Barcelona's on- and off-field woes cannot be seen as a positive for bitter rivals Real Madrid, according to the Spanish champions' former president Ramon Calderon.
The Catalan club are dealing with the fallout from a trophyless 2019-20 campaign that culminated in a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Quique Setien has already been replaced as head coach by Ronald Koeman, and Ramon Planes was promoted to take over from Eric Abidal as first-team technical secretary.
Barca were then rocked on Tuesday after all-time leading scorer and club icon Lionel Messi informed them of his intention to leave, with a number of others also expected to move on.
However, Calderon insists the turmoil at Camp Nou could negatively impact Madrid in a wider sense and is hopeful Barca will soon return to their best.
"It is important to have a team like Barcelona in our league, and for Real Madrid as well to have as a rival," he told Stats Perform News. "It makes both teams better.
"It used to happen with Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi. The fact that both have been in those teams made them better players.
"It encouraged them to improve themselves and win more trophies in order to beat the other. It is the same with Real Madrid and Barcelona.
"The clubs are always in a competition. This is what should happen between those two clubs."
