Are we favourites for the next Champions League?

[Birdy]

I will never ever believe arsenal can win the CL until they actually do.

They could be 3-0 up with 3 minutes left, they'll probably lose.

My 5 standards correct

PSG, Liverpool,Barca, Madrid, City.

Teams that can actually win it, not make deep runs are even a final, actually WIN

Arsenal last season reached SFs, crushed Madrid on the way, and made PSG shit their pants, with 3 clear chances to make it 0-3 in the first 10 min and put the tie to bed early.

You have in mind a previous iteration of Arsenal under Wenger, who played nice football but had no grit.
Things changed since then.

Drop the stereotypes and see the football

 

[jamrock]

Flick magic is what's holding everything together, it's flick magic that's holding the new camp nou together lol.

Flick went for a bum to the greatest magician on the universe has ever seen in a matter of months, in the mind of Bojan.

 

[HeadElastico]

We greatly overprrformed what our squad on paper could be expected to achieve last year. As expected we haven't managed to reinforce key positions like full back and striker, while Liverpool, arsenal, etc. are out there making significant investments in big names plus squad depth.

If players like Raphinha revert somehwat to the mean, which is to say do well but not necessarily too 3 balondor well - we'd do really well to reach the semi final IMO.

Think we're still one or two big transfer windows away from being favourites for CL - it's been years now since we felt like anything but a tiny relegation team in terms of transfer market power, so let's see when we get that window we need.

 

[Barcaman]

You guys really just like to stay pessimistic. Last season we weren’t favourites for anything and now we won a domestic treble and minutes away from a UCL final, I’m sure we can say we are favourites if not one of the favourites. We got a left winger and a brand new goalkeeper, these are very important positions that would help us massively this season. As for the defence, with experience Cubarsi will get better and Kounde also improved massively in his attacking output, Torrents seems to be a great option for back up left back. With experience we’ll get better as we still have a very young squad who is in the beginning of their careers.

Flick bought Barca couple of years. It bridges this terrible financial and structural situation. That's an optimistic look. Hopefully Barca of the future will be ran by professionals and not people tainted by nepotism.

 

[RedxMAK]

Flick bought Barca couple of years. It bridges this terrible financial and structural situation. That's an optimistic look. Hopefully Barca of the future will be ran by professionals and not people tainted by nepotism.

Terrible financial situation where Barcelona made 950m euros this season and without the Camp Nou. Just because Tebas has insanely strict FFP laws doesn’t mean that Barcelona is broke, once we go back to the Camp Nou everything will go back to normal. This is just temporary because we are building a world class stadium and actually delivering on promises that we were made along a decade ago with Rosell and Bartomeu.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Nah. Our rivals strengthened and we are the same. Last season was a golden opportunity missed.

 

[Richard.H]

Nope, RM has gotten a lot better and PSG is still there. Not to mention Liverpool and Chelsea who look much better now too.

It will be a very difficult road if we do somehow win, ala 2015.

 

[Alik]

I would like to hope that we have also improved (more experienced squad and manager, injury recoveries, new keeper...). Although not as much as the other clubs.

 

[Andresito]

According to bookies it's:

PSG
Liverpool
Barca/Madrid
Arsenal/City
Bayern
Chelsea

Which I think is mostly fair, although I don't see PSG winning it twice in a row.

 

[khaled_a_d]

According to bookies it's:

PSG
Liverpool
Barca/Madrid
Arsenal/City
Bayern
Chelsea

Which I think is mostly fair, although I don't see PSG winning it twice in a row.

I think Chelsea is a bit too low, they are probably at the same tier of Arsenal/City. Otherwise it is a fair one at this stage of the year.

 

[MonteCuler]

More like balanced football.
Teams like Inter and Atletico would struggle to go all the way to the trophy in this age and era, but almost every team that won it had good defense

PSG defense is nothing spectacular, and they won it. Of course it helps if you have a good defense but good attack is much bigger priority now

 

[Porque]

We are part of the top 5 as most have said. Madrid, Atleti, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have improved immensely on paper. Not all will hit it off though.

PSG meanwhile added the depth they needed in a superior CB to Berardi.

Reality is that everyone has improved bar us, unless Joan is the real deal and Jofre hits it off.

And I don't think the goalkeeper was really the issue in the CL but depth at fullbacks and systematic issues with centrebacks like Araujo coming back in majorly off form.

Rashford is good attacking depth, but if we are honest with ourselves he is the January 2025 window loan signing we should have got, not the Summer 25 big attacking talent.

It is what it is.

 

[khaled_a_d]

PSG defense is nothing spectacular, and they won it. Of course it helps if you have a good defense but good attack is much bigger priority now

Their defense, when complete, is fairly strong. They can hold onto a lead when they needed to and focused. Nothing spectacular, but strong enough.
Their offense isn't "spectacular" either as individual btw, it is more of being fluid and having multiple outlets while being dependent on fullbacks to open things up.
Again, more balanced team than being offensive or defensively heavy

 

[Birdy]

According to bookies it's:

PSG
Liverpool
Barca/Madrid
Arsenal/City
Bayern
Chelsea

Which I think is mostly fair, although I don't see PSG winning it twice in a row.

So they give equal odd to Barca and Madrid?
Equal to Arsenal and City?

which book this is?

 

[malvolio]

Considering we didn't improve our defense? No chance