Champions League: Sergio Buquets bullish about Barcelona push for European glory despite loss of Lionel Messi

Updated 15/09/2021 at 10:26 GMT

"We are at the beginning of the season and we’ll have to get used to playing without Leo.” said the midfielder who has admitted the team will have come to terms with playing with the Argentine superstar in the Champions League. “We are here, excited and aware of the difficulty, but we have a lot of ambition and we want to win.”

Messi and Busquets during their time at Barca

Image credit: Getty Images

Barçelona legend Sergio Busquets has revealed that he still believes the club have a good chance in the Champions League this season despite being without their former talisman Leo Messi.

Messi, who was a European champion on four occasions with Barça, left the club this summer after 21 years to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer as the Spanish giants were unable to agree terms on a new contract due to their difficult financial position.

Now without their record goalscorer, it is the beginning of a new chapter for Barçelona, and Busquets told reporters that it was difficult to adapt after Messi’s departure.

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“It was a shock, for everything that Leo gave to Barça and personally to me,” the 33-year-old said.

“It was an accumulation of emotions that were difficult to digest, but we have to try to change the story. We are at the beginning of the season and we’ll have to get used to playing without Leo.”

Despite the wholesale changes at Camp Nou this summer, the Blaugrana midfielder thinks Barçelona can challenge for the Champions League. They kick off their 2020-21 campaign on Tuesday night with a difficult group game at home to Bayern Munich.

"Anything can happen in football. Chelsea won the Champions League last season and were not favourites," Busquets added.

“We are here, excited and aware of the difficulty, but we have a lot of ambition and we want to win.”

Barcelona will also be keen to avenge their devastating 8-2 defeat to Bayern the last time the two sides met in the competition in the 2020.

In last season’s competition, Barca bowed out to PSG in the Round of 16.

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