Following two successive defeats to Barcelona, Real Madrid have been left with just one trophy to aim for in the Champions League, and Fernando Sanz believes the team lack individual players which can make the overall unit great.
Having represented Los Merengues at senior level, Sanz has since pursued different professional avenues, including being an ambassador for LaLiga.
"Real Madrid lack players who make the team great," Sanz explained in an interview with Radio MARCA.
"There is a problem, they don't have a star, there are still the same players that were there five years ago.
"We must thank them, they have written one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of football, but they don't have a goalscorer."
The two Clasico defeats have been hard for supporters to take, especially with the team drawing a blank in both encounters, and Sanz feels as though the second match truly highlighted the differences between the two behemoths.
"It's a difficult moment, it's not right for Real Madrid to lose to their eternal rival in such a clear way," he intimated.
"In the first game they simply had no luck. Yet, in the second Barcelona controlled everything as they wanted to, in Real Madrid's home ground."
With his role as one of the travelling ambassadors for the Spanish top flight, the Spaniard was asked to give a number of names of players who he would like to ply their trade in LaLiga Santander.
"Mbappe, Neymar or Salah," Sanz added. "These are all players with a media presence and extraordinary qualities.
"There are very few of those players outside our league."
As part of the ongoing fallout at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, youth coach, Alvaro Benito, was dismissed prior to Saturday's meeting with Barcelona with it perceived he had been overly critical of the European champions in their Copa del Rey elimination.
"I told him in a message that I heard the news, it surprised me a lot," Sanz confirmed. "I told him that I was sending him a hug and was available if he needed anything.
"It seems to me as if everything has been taken out of context."