5 reasons why Barcelona will win the UEFA Champions League 2018-19
The UEFA Champions League is one of the most coveted trophies in terms of football tournaments. When it comes to grandeur and the quality of football on display, it is almost able to rival the FIFA World Cup, and has become an annual global footballing extravaganza. There is no club in Europe which doesn't want to win the famous trophy, because of the glory and fame that comes along with it.
The last season's edition of the famous tournament was won by Real Madrid who inscribed their name in the pages of history as the only team to have won the title three times in a row. Riding on the back of some amazing performances, Los Blancos soared through the championship smoothly and won their 13th overall UCL title.
This season we are already at the last gameweek of the group stages, and a lot of potential contenders for the trophy have shown their mettle in the last few months. Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Barcelona, and Juventus are the traditional European heavyweights, and every single team is ready to go all out to win the title.
Manchester City could be touted as a perfect team, and Juventus could boast of its attacking firepower, but one can't easily remove Barcelona from the list of favourites. Not only because they have a rich history, but also their starting XI is one of the most composed and complete amongst all the other teams locking horns in the prestigious tournament.
Barcelona last won the UEFA Champions League back in 2014-15, a triumph sandwiched between Real Madrid's domination. The unstoppable forward trio that comprised of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar helped them coast to the trophy under the tutelage of manager Luis Enrique.
Today, the team may not be as good as it used to be, but there are many players who can definitely make an impact, and hence it is wrong to consider them outsiders in the title race.
Here are the five reasons why Barcelona will win the UCL trophy 2017-18.
#1 The greatest showman of all time - Lionel Messi
If there is a player who has proved all his doubters wrong with his amazing performances on the field, it has to be Lionel Messi. There is something magical about the player he is, not only because of his capability to hold the chains of the game in his hands, but because of his ability to always be the saviour of his team.
The diminutive Argentinean is a joy to watch each time he goes onto the field. The current captain of the Barcelona team, Messi still manages to be the decisive player for Barcelona, and even at the age of 31, there is no stopping him. After Pele dubbed Messi a single skill player recently, Messi achieved the feat of being the first player who has scored more than 10 goals in 13 consecutive seasons in LaLiga history.
He has taken up a much more important role after the departure of Andres Iniesta, and drops deeper to retrieve the ball, thereby creating more outlets to score. He has become the heartbeat of the team, and even today he hasn't stopped scoring at a brisk rate.
Lionel Messi is going to be instrumental in Barcelona's march to the title.