Much like the above photo barcelona journey depends whether Messi will play at his level or play at a very good player's level. If he performs as the latter one Barcelona would be out of Champions League sooner than expected.
This was the question asked by many Curlers what are Barcelona's chances of winning Champions League and I think it is the perfect time to answer the question, La liga will resume in 4-5 weeks and the probable champions league dates are given below.
There are 4 matches remaining in round of 16 fixture out of which one is a barcelona match against Napoli at home.
Champions league is one of the most unpredictable tournament. For an instance, last season Ajax went on to beat Real Madrid, Juventus on their road to semis and lost to Hotspur. Hotspur beat Manchester City which many of us didn't think. The reason they went on to win because they were playing very good of course, but they had very good mentality and had the confident to beat any team.
The away match in Champions League is a very important match. And Barcelona performance in away matches were concerning, ever since Pep leaved Barcelona. But losing in a away match a concerning matter, but coming back stronger is also a important characteristics of the best team in Europe.
When Luis Enrique was the coach of Barcelona, everybody remembers the greatest comeback in the history of Champions league (if not the greatest). He has the mentality if they can score 4 goals we can score 6 goals. And when a manager publicly shows this kind of faith in the team, the team gives it all to win the match.
But then comes "THE ERNESTO VALVERDE ERA"
and ever since Valverde took the reins of Barcelona, it looked that players were always under-confident. He took the charge of Barcelona when, they lost Neymar Jr. to PSG. And in the first season, Barcelona were unbeaten untill matchday 36 which is quiet appreciable for a manager who hasn't managed any big club before. But then Barcelona lost the round of 16 match against Roma in Rome, they bottled away their home lead. Then again in a Champions League semifinal match against Liverpool, Barcelona bottled away their 3-0 lead. This should have been the end of Valverde time at Barcelona. But no, barcelona board didn't sack at the end of the season they kept him and sacked him after Barcelona lost a semifinal match against Atletico Madrid in a tournament where four teams compete. It took barcelona 2 and a half year to sack Valverde. Valverde managed the team for two and a half year, the mentality of the team has been changed from "if they will score 4 we will score six" to "conceding a single away goal means lossing a match". He publicly said that, I don't mind how is physical condition of a player. When a manger will publicly say this word how can their players be at top of their physical level.
Now comes the main question can we challenge this year Champions League trophy.
Setien will need sometime to change the mentality of players, if we were the old barcelona ( mentality), we would have crumbled against Napoli when they were 1-0 up in Naples. But we kept playing against Napoli in an attacking manner and level the score.
We started the season not a favourite to win and actually this could be something good for Barcelona. It must have released pressure from player.
Messi earlier said that "We are not one of the favourites to win this year Champions league trophy, we are not playing as good as a champion team plays". After his statement, Setien diageeed with his statement and he said we have everything cover, and we can win the champions League. Now recently, in a interview, reporter said what Setien said on his statement and soon Messi stated
Messi himself agrees that Barcelona can't win Champions League in the way Barcelona were playing before football was suspended.
Now, what other thinks doesn't matter. Clearly it means that Barcelona need to play better than before.
My thought
It has been speculated that Champions league could return in August. And till that time every major European league should be over.(atleast hoping la liga would be finish). Barcelona would to focus on only one game at a moment. Every match will be played between the gap of 3 days as reports suggest. If it happens in reality, it would be great news. Barcelona would play Napoli at home with the score (1-1). Unless barcelona don't play horribly they should go to the quarter finals. Barcelona would have Ousmane Dembele in the team till that time, who plays at both the wings, and the kind of speed he has he will certainly play a important role in one side of the pitch (if he don't injured himself again). But Barcelona's attack has never been their weak play. Our defence is, If we won't have Ter Stegen as our Goalkeeper, we would have lost many matches, he is saving us a lot. We need a solid Center back who can replace Pique, and in general create a healthy competition between center back. But don't lose hope, after Atletico Madrid defeated the so called best team in the world (Liverpool) by dark tactics or whatever, you can expect anything from Champions League.
This are my thoughts on our Champions league campaign. Leave your thought on the comments section below.
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