Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has revealed that winning La Liga remains the club's number one priority every season.
Barca have been crowned Spanish champions in seven of the past 10 years, but they have recently seen Real Madrid garner most of the plaudits courtesy of their three successive Champions League titles, and four in the space of five years.
Bartomeu acknowledged that winning the Champions League is an annual target for his side too, but rejected the idea that their season should be regarded as a failure if they are not crowned kings of Europe.
"The first and most important objective for us every year is La Liga. The Champions League is an objective too, of course, but we take the view that if we perform well in La Liga, we are able to perform well in the knockout competitions," Bartomeu told The Times.
"Last season we lost once in La Liga [to Levante], once in the Copa del Rey [to Espanyol] and once in the Champions League [to Roma, who won the semi-final tie on away goals].
"We won the league, we won the Copa. We didn't win the Champions League, but we had a very good season, very consistent. We won the league by a big margin."
Barcelona finished 14 points clear at the top of La Liga last season and lead the way once again this term, albeit only on goal difference ahead of Real Madrid.
Barney Corkhill
