Messi: It’s Time for Barcelona to Win the Champions League

DBasia.news – Lionel Messi insisted that this season is the moment for Barcelona to be the winner of the Champions League. On the other hand, Messi also mentioned Juventus as the favorite candidate in this league.

Messi said Real Madrid are no longer the same without Ronaldo. He believed Madrid won’t be as strong as before.

The rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo in LaLiga has been happening for nine years. The rivalry of the two stars added the spark of two Spanish huge club’s competition. El Clasico is not complete without Messi versus Ronaldo.

Real Madrid and Barcelona won the three initial matches in LaLiga and shared the leading position in the standing with nine points.

“Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world and they have a great squad (but) it’s evident that the absence of Ronaldo makes them less good,” Messi said quoted by Mirror.

“And makes Juventus [one of the] clear favorites to win the Champions League,” Messi added.

Messi surprised when he heard Ronaldo joined Juventus.

“It surprised me (when he left). I didn’t imagine him leaving Madrid or joining Juventus. There were a lot of teams that wanted him. It surprised me, but he has gone to a very good team.”

For the competition in the Champions League, Messi considered Juventus as the favorite team. However, Messi has his own ambition in this league.

“It’s time. We have had three years in a row being knocked out of the Champions League and are hurt further still from last season’s result in Rome,” added Messi.

“We have a spectacular squad and we can fight for it. We lost chances to win it in the (Pep) Guardiola era against Inter (Milan) and Chelsea. We were better than them.”

For the Champions League this season, Barcelona joined Group C with Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, and PSV Eindhoven.