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Lionel Messi promised to give every ounce of his effort to win the UEFA Champions League trophy in front of Barcelona fans during the team's presentation previous to the Joan Gamper trophy match versus Argentine squad Boca Juniors.
Barcelona's season had a good bounce to begin after its 2-1 victory over Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup.
Given that Barcelona has won only one of the last seven Champions League trophies, Messi's words should represent a strong position from the Catalan club in the European competition. Barcelona's disaster in the previous year versus Roma in the quarterfinals adds pressure to the Blaugrana squad for the upcoming Champions League, which final match will take part in Spanish soil.
Barcelona had an exciting summer with some good acquisitions as Brazilian Malcom and, primarily, Chilean Arturo Vidal from FC Bayern. The Chilean midfielder has also been vocal about Barcelona's Champions League campaign.
Messi remains the most critical player in the squad, but let's choose the other two players which performances will be more than essential for the Camp Nou-based team.
#1 Lionel Messi
An undoubted top 2 player in the football world, Messi enters his fifteenth season in Barcelona's first team as the first team captain. The Argentine magician remains as the greatest player in the current squad and in Barcelona's history.
Messi comes off a season with good numbers (45 goals in 54 matches), especially in the Spanish League and the Copa del Rey. But Messi's campaign has a couple of blemishes: the UEFA Champions League, in which he scored six goals for Barcelona, but could not find the target against Barcelona's debacle versus Roma in the quarterfinals.
Messi started the 2018/19 season with an excellent display in the match against Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup match, which Barcelona won 2-1 and Messi had some participation in the two goals scored by the Ernesto Valverde-led team.
Coming off a bad World Cup with Argentina, Messi looks a little bit revitalized for the upcoming campaign, and Barcelona's chances have a significant link to Messi's left foot.
#2 Philippe Coutinho
The talented Brazilian will play his first full season for Barcelona after his arrival from Liverpool in January. Coutinho played in the FIFA World Cup at Russia and was one of the best players in his Brazilian national team during the tournament.
Barcelona fans have a lot of hopes in Coutinho's right foot, and his role is more prominent compared to his first six months in the team due to Andrés Iniesta's departure, which probably assures Coutinho a spot in the starting eleven.
In the entire 2017/18 season with Liverpool and Barcelona, Coutinho scored 22 goals in 42 games. Also, he assisted on 15 occasions. His goals and assists tallies were the highest of the 26-year-old attacker's career.
For Barcelona, Coutinho participated in 17 goals (10 scored and seven assists) in just 22 matches with the Catalan squad. His 22 games played were 18 in the Spanish League and four in the Copa del Rey, the two tournaments Barcelona won during the previous season.
#3 Luis Suárez
The Uruguayan striker is Messi's perfect partner in Barcelona's attacking crew. Suárez numbers in Barcelona are impressive, and the South American does not look like he is losing his goalscoring powers, and his offensive display overall.
Suárez had a strong season last year, especially in the domestic competitions. The Uruguayan scored at least 25 goals in every one of his four seasons for Barcelona.
Barcelona's number nine, also, averages 19 assists per year since he arrived from Liverpool after the 2014 World Cup.
The 31-year-old striker comes off a strong 2017/18 season. He scored 31 goals and assisted 17 goals for his teammates in 51 matches for the Catalan club. On the international play, Suárez played with Uruguay in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and scored a couple of goals.
Suárez's complete attacking performance for Barcelona in the upcoming season will be essential if the Catalan club pretends to keep the crown in Spanish football and make a strong push to win the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League in Madrid.
Suárez has scored 152 goals in 199 games for Barcelona and provided 76 assists.
