Top 3 players in Barcelona's squad for the 2018/19 season
Lionel Messi promised to give every ounce of his effort to win the UEFA Champions League trophy in front of Barcelona fans during the team's presentation previous to the Joan Gamper trophy match versus Argentine squad Boca Juniors.
Barcelona's season had a good bounce to begin after its 2-1 victory over Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup.
Given that Barcelona has won only one of the last seven Champions League trophies, Messi's words should represent a strong position from the Catalan club in the European competition. Barcelona's disaster in the previous year versus Roma in the quarterfinals adds pressure to the Blaugrana squad for the upcoming Champions League, which final match will take part in Spanish soil.
Barcelona had an exciting summer with some good acquisitions as Brazilian Malcom and, primarily, Chilean Arturo Vidal from FC Bayern. The Chilean midfielder has also been vocal about Barcelona's Champions League campaign.
Messi remains the most critical player in the squad, but let's choose the other two players which performances will be more than essential for the Camp Nou-based team.
#1 Lionel Messi
An undoubted top 2 player in the football world, Messi enters his fifteenth season in Barcelona's first team as the first team captain. The Argentine magician remains as the greatest player in the current squad and in Barcelona's history.
Messi comes off a season with good numbers (45 goals in 54 matches), especially in the Spanish League and the Copa del Rey. But Messi's campaign has a couple of blemishes: the UEFA Champions League, in which he scored six goals for Barcelona, but could not find the target against Barcelona's debacle versus Roma in the quarterfinals.
Messi started the 2018/19 season with an excellent display in the match against Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup match, which Barcelona won 2-1 and Messi had some participation in the two goals scored by the Ernesto Valverde-led team.
Coming off a bad World Cup with Argentina, Messi looks a little bit revitalized for the upcoming campaign, and Barcelona's chances have a significant link to Messi's left foot.