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Barcelona is one of the most prestigious clubs in the world, with the calibre of players available and illustrious history making it a requisite for the club to compete favourably for all trophies on display.
It goes without saying that the club is one of the most successful of all time, while they are the only club to have won two trebles, and also the record Copa del Rey winners.
Up till this point, the Blaugrana have had an almost flawless season and as such are one of a few clubs still in the running to win a treble this term.
LaLiga and the Copa del Rey might be all but foregone conclusions owing to their 10-point gap and superiority over their final opponents respectively, however it is in the Champions League where a number of obstacles lie.
Barcelona have been paired against a resurgent Manchester United in the last eight of the UCL and even though they enter the tie as rank favourites, the Catalans would do well to keep their optimism in check.
While taking nothing away from Barcelona's brilliance in maintaining their assault on all competitions, it is pertinent to note that the club has not been overly spectacular and have some few weaknesses which other clubs could exploit in Europe.
Given that the Champions League is the one trophy that Barcelona set their eyes on right from the start, it is of utmost importance that Ernesto Valverde addresses these lingering issues.
In this piece, we shall be highlighting three problems that Barcelona must address if they are to triumph in the Champions League.
#3 Coutinho's dip in form
It is no hidden secret that Coutinho has suffered from an alarming drop in form throughout the course of this season.
The 26-year-old had arrived Barcelona in January 2018 as the club's record signing and it was expected that he would be the immediate and long-term heir to Iniesta at the club.
However, despite starting his Barcelona career rather impressively with 10 goals and five assists from just 22 matches in his first five months to help Barcelona to a double, this season has been nothing short of shambolic.
So far this campaign, the Brazilian international has scored just four goals and registered two assists from 28 LaLiga matches which is a rather poor return for a player of his calibre and the huge amount expended to sign him.
Coutinho has been one of the most disappointing players for Barcelona this season, and his struggles have seen him dropped out of the starting 11 on occasion. While it has been suggested that he might be on his way out of the club with Manchester United and PSG rumoured to be interested.
Barcelona is entering the home run of the season where optimum concentration and peak performance levels are required from all of their players.
Coutinho is one of Barcelona's chief attacking threats and his importance is further aggrandized due to Dembele's persistent injury problems and as such, Valverde must find a way to rekindle the creative spark in Coutinho with few matches of the season left.
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#2 Dembele's injury concerns
Ousmane Dembele was signed from Dortmund in the summer of 2017 as Barcelona's most expensive player to replace the PSG-bound Neymar.
The Frenchman had shown a lot of promise in the Bundesliga and it was expected that he would bring some of his magic with him to the Camp Nou, but that largely failed to happen as a very serious hamstring injury barely a month into his Barcelona career ruled him out for four months.
He suffered another muscle tear two weeks after recovering, missing seven games in the process and all these injury niggles severely hampered his first season with the club.
Despite initial struggles this season, the World Cup winner has starred in recent months and has played his way into the starting 11, proving himself an invaluable member of the squad.
However, for all of his improved performances, Dembele continues to be blighted by persistent injuries and had earlier in January suffered an ankle injury which saw him miss five games for the LaLiga giants.
His latest setback came after the game against Lyon in the last round, with tests showing that he had ruptured his muscles and could miss 3-4 weeks of action for Barcelona.
Dembele's current injury setback puts his availability for the clash against Manchester United in doubt and given the crucial nature of the fixture as well as potential semifinal and final clashes if Barcelona were to qualify, it is important that a solution to Dembele's persistent injury problems is found once and for all.
#1 Overdependence on Messi
Lionel Messi is undoubtedly one of the greatest players of all time and unarguably the greatest in Barcelona's history.
Given his extremely high level of performance, it comes as no secret that the Catalan club has unequivocally benefited from the Argentine's otherworldly talents over the years.
Ever since he became the club's talisman, Messi has taken Barcelona to incredibly new heights, helping them to 33 major honours and increasing their global fanbase.
It goes without saying that the Barcelona number 10 has bailed the club out on occasions too numerous to list, as he has almost single-handedly helped out in seemingly impossible situations.
All these factors have made Messi become Barcelona's go-to man in turbulent times, with all the players turning to him when things are not going right.
To put this into perspective, of Barcelona's 75 goals in LaLiga this season, 43 have come off the boots of Messi as he has a league-high 31 goals and 12 assists while he has also stepped in to rescue the team on more occasions than one this season, with knockout ties against Sevilla and Lyon being worthy examples.
Messi's extraterrestrial talents and abilities mean that more often than not he would step up to the occasion and deliver for his team. He is still only human meaning that it is a very likely possibility that he fails to step up to the plate when it matters.
Perhaps the most glaring example of this would be in the Champions League where Messi has failed to score in the quarterfinal since 2013 and in that time, Barcelona has progressed from this stage just once, being eliminated on the four other occasions where Messi failed to score in the quarterfinal.
Barcelona comes into the quarterfinal clash against Manchester United with Messi in one of the best forms of his life, but given his history of choking at this stage, Valverde would do well to work on an effective plan B seeing as his other main forwards are not really inspiring confidence at the moment.
