Barcelona Reflects on Blaugrana season

Edmilson believes Barcelona have enjoyed a very good season, which was only marred by their rivals Real Madrid winning the Champions League.

The Brazilian, who spent four seasons with the Catalans until 2008, gave his end-of-season report, singling out Dani Alves and Neymar for special attention.

"It's not a problem that Barcelona didn't win the Champions League, the problem is that Real Madrid won it," he said in an interview with Radio Barcelona.

"It was a great season but with a bitter ending."

The former Brazilian international feels the club will be poorer without the right back, who has announced he is leaving to seek new challenges elsewhere.

The 33-year-old has won a string of trophies in his eight years with the Azulgranas including six La Liga titles, four Copa del Rey, four Supercopas de Espana, three Champions Leagues, three UEFA Super Cups and three FIFA Club World Cups.

"Barcelona won everything with him and he was a leader," Edmilson said.

"Many people thought he would not play because they had Aleix Vidal in the squad."

However, the 39-year-old thinks Neymar will stay at the club for another season at least, but the legal issues concerning allegations of fraud regarding his transfer from Santos need to be sorted as quickly as possible.

"I think he should stay a year or two more at Barcelona to continue making history."

Finally, the 2002 World Cup winner turned his attention to the summer Olympic Games being held in Rio de Janeiro, advising people not to worry too much about the Zika virus.

"Now Brazil is improving and everything is on track for the tournament."