LIONEL MESSI SAYS MADRID WEREN’T THE BEST CLUB TEAM IN THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Leo Messi has said that Real Madrid – despite winning the 2021/22 Champions League – were not the best team in the competition this season.
The logical question would be to ask what team was the best then? In our opinion, it’s still Real Madrid who were the best team in the UCL this season. Here are the three reasons for it.
- Most difficult path to final
Admittedly, our group wasn’t the most difficult, although we started off on the wrong foot by losing to Sheriff Tiraspol.
It was the playoffs where it all started. Real Madrid got to face Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16, last year’s winners Chelsea in the quarter-finals, Manchester City in the semi-finals and Liverpool in the final.
The other finalists, Liverpool, had it much easier. They faced Inter Milan (we beat them twice in the group stages), Benfica and Villarreal (finished 7th in La Liga) respectively.
2. Others Were Also ‘Lucky’
It’s undeniable that Madrid benefited from some luck along the way, like the late equalisers against Chelsea and Man City. However, others were no less lucky.
Liverpool were on the brink of bottling it against Villarreal in the second leg but benefited from a couple of mistakes from the rival goalkeeper. Man City beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 on aggregate with a couple of big chances missed by the Rojiblancos.
3. Best Individual Performers
Real Madrid performed well as a team, but what played the key difference were the brilliant individual performances.
Karim Benzema was the top goalscorer with 15 goals, Vinicius Junior was the second-best passer with 6 assists, and Thibaut Courtois was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Of course, let’s also not forget the clutch goals from Rodrygo against Chelsea and Man City.
