MADRID (AP) — Despite managing to hang onto Lionel Messi, Barcelona begins its Champions League campaign with reduced expectations after one of its worst seasons in years.
The Catalan club appears to lack its confidence from previous seasons following an embarrassing elimination to Bayern Munich and a troubled offseason in which it nearly lost its talisman.
“Knowing what happened recently, we are not the top favorite,” coach Ronald Koeman said on Monday ahead of the team’s debut in this season’s competition against Hungarian club Ferencváros. “But we are a team that can go far.”
Koeman arrived to put Barcelona back on track shortly after the 8-2 collapse against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, which capped its first season without a title since 2007-08.