Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has named the club he considers to be among the favorites to win the Champions League this season – and it's not his.
Europe's premier club competition is back for matchday seven of the league stage this week, with just one more round of matches remaining as teams battle for positions to finish as high as possible.
Barcelona overcame a disappointing start in the following losing to Monaco in their opening gameracking up five consecutive wins from Young Boys, Bayern Munich, Red Star Belgrade, Brest and Borussia Dortmund to sit second in the table behind leaders Liverpool.
The Premier League side have won six from six, the only side with a 100% record, and Flick admitted that Arne Slott's men are the ones to beat.
Barca face Benfica in Lisbon on Tuesday night, with manager Bruno Lage naming the Catalans as favorites to lift the trophy in May. Flick disputed that prediction, commenting on the difficulty of going all the way and leaving Liverpool's name.
“We will see in the future if (Lage) is right. It is one of the most difficult races to win. Liverpool it's one of my favorites,” Flick explained to reporters.
“Winning Champions League it's one of the hardest things in the world. We are doing well, but there are some very good teams who are also doing well.
“We are in three competitions. If you look at the results in La Liga, we are not doing a good job, but if you look at the (Getafe) game (on Saturday), we are doing very well. It is difficult to play against Getafe.”
Barcelona's domestic form has been in stark contrast to their European results. Dropping just three points in their opening 12 League games to lead, Flick's side have picked up just one further win from eight league games since, falling seven points off the pace set by Real Madrid.
However, they did collect the Spanish Super Cup earlier this monthbeating Madrid for the second time this season in the final in Saudi Arabia, scoring four times in the first half alone.