UCL 2018/2019: Five things Barcelona must do to win the Champions League
The 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League season is upon us, with the best 32 clubs on the European continent ready to do battle in a bid to be crowned the best club in Europe come May next year.
All 32 clubs are however on a different spectrum on the footballing ladder, and as such have varying objectives in this season's Champions League. Most are just in the competition for the thrill and would see making it out of the group as a real achievement, while only a very select few are in the tournament with real aims of winning it.
Barcelona is one of the elite teams in the competition who would seek to lift the trophy come June. Being one of the most successful clubs in football history, and possessing some of the best players in the world makes them one of the genuine contenders for the title.
However, despite their illustrious history, the Blaugrana have floundered in recent seasons, and have failed to go beyond the quarter-final stage in each of the last three Champions League campaigns, being eliminated in shocking circumstances to AS Roma last season after they had taken a 4-1 first leg lead.
What makes the situation even more untenable for Barca is that each of those competitions was won by eternal rivals Real Madrid, with the Los Blancos embarking on the most successful period in their modern history, winning the Champions League four times in the last five years, including the last three consecutively.
The last time Barcelona won the trophy was back in 2015 when they became the first club in history to win the treble on two occasions, hence they would be desperate to make up for the drought by lifting the 'Big Ears' come June.
Even though they might not be top of everyone's list of favorites owing to their recent struggles, Barcelona are still one of the best teams in Europe and would fancy their chances of lifting the trophy. Here are five things Barcelona must do to win this season's Champions League trophy.
#5 Build the play around Coutinho
After prolonged transfer speculations which lasted over a year, Philippe Coutinho finally achieved his self-proclaimed childhood desire when he joined Barcelona in January from Liverpool.
The Brazilian is the Blaugrana's most expensive player, and he was signed to be a replacement for the now departed Andres Iniesta. Even though the World Cup winner is one of the greatest players in history, and undoubtedly a tough act to follow, with Coutinho admitting that he has a long way to go before earning comparisons to the Spanish great, the bottom line is that the former Inter Milan man has his unique abilities which could be beneficial to Barcelona.
Whereas Iniesta was a more calm and calculating player, Coutinho is not afraid to take his marker on a run, combining excellent technique with that innate Brazilian flair, and he offers a complimentary yet unique style to the Barcelona midfield.
Quick, agile and possessing a blistering accurate shot, Coutinho has shown with Brazil that he is more than capable of lifting a team, as he was the star of the show in the underperformance of Neymar, and if deployed in a similar role by Ernesto Valverde, it would be hugely instrumental to Barcelona's chances, as it would take off the playmaking responsibilities from Messi and allow him to focus on delivering the goods in the final third.