Laporta: Now we have a better chance to win the Champions League. We have a better team than Real Madrid and better players individually

Barcelona president Joan Laporta is very optimistic ahead of the new season. TheBlaugranas would like to attack the overall triumph after two years of being eliminated in the Champions League in the group stage.

Laporta was busy last year. He sold off a large part of the club’s future in order to strengthen the team immediately. That worked, Barcelona were the second highest spending team behind Chelsea and pumped in reinforcements like Lewandowski, Koundé, Raphinha and Kessié.

The goal of returning to the elite came out about halfway. Barcelona did win La Liga, but in Europe, another fiasco came in the form of relegation in the Champions League group stage and also in the first round of the Europa League.

European cups have been a big weakness for the Culés in recent years. Two consecutive eliminations in the regular group, and a year earlier in the eighth round. In the 2019/20 season, it came in the quarter-finals with an ignominious 2: 8 defeat to Bayern.

They have been waiting for the Champions League title since 2015, a wait they would like to end in Catalonia. However, they were almost eliminated due to a corruption scandal, but UEFA eventually approved Barcelona’s participation in the cups.

“Not playing in the Champions League would be a huge shame both economically and socially. It was a very delicate moment and because we overcame it, we are now more favourites to win the Champions League overall,” Laporta, who was answering questions from the Catalan media at a press conference, believes his club.

As for reinforcements, the club president is satisfied. “Iñigo and Gündogan are two players that Xavi wanted. I think we still need a right back, we are working on that. We also want to strengthen the midfield,” he says openly.

But rival Real Madrid is also strengthening strongly. The latter has brought in one of the world’s greatest talents, Jude Bellingham, plus Joselu, Brahim Díaz, Fran García and, in a duel with Barcelona, stole Arda Güllers from the Catalans. Laporta, however, is convinced that the Blaugranas have the better team.

“We have a better team than Madrid and individually better players. We are better by some distance compared to our rivals. As a socio and a fan, I am very happy with the team we have here,” Laporta says confidently.

Source: MARCA