Champions League 2018-19: Are Barcelona the favourites to lift the Trophy this year?
The most prestigious club tournament "The UEFA Champions League" is finally underway. The matchday 1 had a lot of talking points such as Cristiano Ronaldo's red card, Lionel Messi's superb hat-trick, Manchester City's shocking defeat and a lot more.
In recent years, the Spanish giants - Real Madrid has totally dominated the competition clinching the European title four times in the last five years with three successive titles in last three editions.
Despite there brilliant performances in previous seasons many believe that the Los Blancos are not the favorites to take the trophy home for the fourth successive time as the King of UCL - 'Cristiano Ronaldo' took his talents to Turin side Juventus in this summer. Ronaldo was an elemental part in Madrid's dominance in the UEFA Champions League.
So, who are the favorites to win the title of the best club in Europe? it's none other than Madrid's arch-rival FC Barcelona. Here are some reasons why Messi led Barca can win the UEFA Champions League 2018-19:
Messi's Amazing form
The little magician's World Cup campaign was cut short by France (the eventual champions of the World Cup 2018) in the round 16 where Argentina lost 4-3 to France.
Lionel Messi is hungry for success as in a preseason presentation he promised Barca fans that he will bring back the UEFA Champions League to the city of Barcelona.
Messi has really hit the ground running in the first few weeks whether it is the La Liga or the UEFA Champions League.
He has already scored four goals and provided two assists so far in his four appearances in the LaLiga. He was able to carry his superb form to Champions League scoring a magnificent hat-trick in the first game.
Depth in Midfield
It is considered that a good midfield is important for a club's success as they are responsible to create quality plays and provide pinpoint passes to the forwards.
Barca has one of the best midfield in the world of football they have players like Coutinho, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal commanding their midfield. Barca will be looking to use make full use of their talents.
They will be looking to fully utilize the talents of Coutinho and Rakitic to attack while the defensive responsibilities will be shared by the duo of Busquets and Vidal.
The balance between young and veteran players
Nowadays, football clubs tend to depend more on their young core of players to show energetic football and maintain a high paced game but there is no doubt that the young guns require supervision of veterans to help them improve their game.
Barcelona has managed to maintain a balance between their veteran and young players as they have many experienced players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique, and Sergio Busquets to guide their upcoming generation of stars such as Ousmane Dembele, Malcom and Arthur.
These were some of the possible reasons which indicated that Barcelona is the favorites to lift the glorious Champions League trophy. Let us know your views on this topic in the comment section.