Usually, the Champions League semifinals are played in the month of April, in normal circumstances, but the coronavirus has played the role of a spoilsport, and football across all of Europe has been suspended.
Before the current 2019-20 season was cut short, teams such as Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid had already qualified for the quarter-finals.
With plenty of round of 16 matches yet to be played, the future of Champions League remains up in the air.
With that said, until the season resumes, we can analyse how teams have fared so far, and which teams are the favourites to go all the way?
Here are the top three teams who could win the Champions League 2019-20:
3) Juventus
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While Inter Milan and Lazio continue to make things complicated for Juventus in the Serie A, the Old Lady have been truly magnificent in Europe so far.
They came out of a group containing the likes of Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, undefeated, having won five matches, scoring 12 goals in the process.
Later, Juventus were paired opposite Lyon in the round of 16, and they succumbed to a 0-1 loss away in France.
But what makes them one of our favourites is the presence of Mr Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has on many occasions, won matches for his team all on his own.
Last year too, Juve needed a hattrick from Ronaldo to progress to the quarter-finals, pipping Atletico, and something tells us they can do the job against Lyon as well.
2) Barcelona
Semifinalists in the past two seasons, Barcelona begin every Champions League season as one of the contenders for the title. They have a monster among men, Lionel Messi, who on his day, can devastate opposition defences all day long.
With that said, Barca’s collapse in Europe in the past two seasons have been truly shambolic, and they weren’t having an impressive 2019-20 campaign either. But Quique Setien has at least brought attractive football back, to the Camp Nou.
Maybe the break in football will do the Catalans some good, as they try to adjust to Setien’s style of play.
Moreover, we all know how badly Messi wants to triumph in Europe again, so he’s hungrier and more motivated than ever before. Expect fireworks this term!
1) Bayern Munich
The Bavarian giants are our top picks when it comes to winning the Champions League because frankly, they have been the best team in Europe by far. Bayern dismantled a youthful Chelsea side in the first leg of their round of 16 games, by a scoreline of 3-0.
They had one foot in the quarter-finals, and were back to their best in the Bundesliga as well, all thanks to the appointment of Hansi Flick, who had them firing on all cylinders.
Now that Flick has signed an extension with the club, the mid-season break will only help all their injured players to recover in time for the business end of the campaign.
Players like Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Serge Gnabry have been in red-hot form, and the team look primed for success, as a unit. Bayern have won five European cups till date, and they look destined to add to that tally!
All stats courtesy:Â Squawka.com
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