Carlos Secretario has confessed that if he could travel back in time, he would have joined Barcelona instead of Real Madrid.

The Portuguese striker revealed that the then-coach at Barcelona, Bobby Robson, was interested in signing him in the summer after the 1996 European Championship.

"My agent called me to go to Lisbon because we had to make a contract with a club but I didn't know which one it was and suddenly I saw that it was Real Madrid," Secretario told the 'FC Porto em casa' TV programme.

"When I was about to sign with them, Vitor Baia called me and told me about Barcelona.

"Bobby Robson was there and he wanted me to go too, but I had already committed to Real Madrid.

"Maybe it would have been better for my career to have gone to Barcelona, because I had the support of my teammates there.

"However, that day, I was already signing for Real Madrid and I couldn't turn them down.

"Things did not go well, but we ended up winning the league.

"The following year, after leaving in January, Real Madrid became European champions."

Secretario played just 17 games for Los Blancos before moving to Porto, with whom he won six Liga NOS titles, five Taca de Portugal trophies, one UEFA Cup and three Supertaca Candido de Oliveira cups across his two spells at the club.