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Borussia Dortmund ace Erling Haaland has named the potential winners of the Champions League title this season. The Norwegian recently spoke to ESPN for an interview covering a range of issues, including the European competition.
Der BVB went out in the group stages after finishing third behind Ajax and Sporting CP despite starting their campaign with two wins on the bounce. Haaland's injury-enforced absence certainly played a part, with the side losing in two of their three games without the striker.
It was their earliest exit from the competition since the 2017-18 season, back when Dortmund similarly bowed out in the first round. However, they were in a tougher group then, one featuring Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.
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Having said that, Dortmund were never the favorites, and Haaland has named some usual suspects for his choice to go all the way this year. The 21-year-old said:
"I think either Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid, though PSG and Real will meet [in the round of 16]. So one of these three."
PSG and Madrid are among the top favorites for the prize but one will see their run end in the last 16 as they're set to face each other in the round.
Manchester City, who lost in the finals last year, have drawn Sporting CP in what should be a relatively straightforward tie for Pep Guardiola's swashbuckling team.
Haaland's side among Europa League favorites
Haaland, who finished as the Champions League top-scorer last season with ten goals, could only muster three strikes in the 2021-22 campaign.
But he will aim to make up for the lost opportunities in the Europa League, which Dortmund have now dropped into. They've been drawn against Scottish team Rangers for the last 16 playoffs and Marco Rose's side are the favorites to win the tie.
With Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Atalanta, RB Leipzig and Lazio also in the mix, Dortmund won't have it any easier in this competition either.
But the Norwegian ace remains optimistic about their chances of going all the way and urges his side to up their level of performance. He said:
"Cannot say true or false, but we have a chance. We have to perform at our best and we have to perform better than we've been doing this season and there's a lot of good things, but we have a small chance."
