Barcelona legend Rivaldo doesn't believe his old side have what it takes to win the Champions League this season.
The Brazilian played for the Catalan club between 1997 and 2002 but doubts Barca can win Europe's top prize for the first time since 2015.
Last season was nothing short of a disaster for Barca, they finished 2nd in LaLiga as Real Madrid clinched the title and were destroyed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in their Champions League quarter final.
The Catalans are very much a side in transition with new boss Ronald Koeman still attempting to assemble his squad after a summer of upheaval that saw Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Nelson Semedo and Arturo Vidal all leave the club.
Rivaldo told Betfair.com: 'There's a long way to go this season but so far I haven't seen the classic Barcelona of old. I don't have much confidence in this team and think they aren't showing enough chemistry to fight for the Champions League title.
They can battle for La Liga with Real and Atletico Madrid because they still have great players and a big aura in Spain, but I'm not so confident about Barca's chances among Europe's elite. '
Barcelona continue their Champions League campaign on Wednesday against the side they beat in the 2015 final, Juventus.
The Serie A champions will be without star man Cristiano Ronaldo after the 35-year-old tested positive for Covid-19 and Rivaldo believes his absence could be a huge boost for Barca.
'While I would have loved to see him take on Lionel Messi again, the Portuguese's absence is good news for my old club.
'We've seen in the last few weeks in Serie A how important Ronaldo is to Juve as the Italian champions have had two disappointing results.
'Ronaldo has a deep knowledge of Spanish football and of Barcelona from his time at Real Madrid. He scored many times against Barca and if he had played, he would have given extra confidence and motivation to his teammates.'
fekbstyz
461
Barca needs to change there strategy in order to win the UCL‼️, 1. DONT DEPEND ON MESSI 2. STOP FOCUSING ON BALL possession, because you can have 99% ball possession and still lose the match 3. COUNTER ATTACK 4. DONT WAIT for MESSI in every attack‼️, because the longer you wait the faster the opponent team gets in shape again and can defend beter. 5. BUY a CENTERBACK at any cost, (even if it takes to sell messi) because the whole team is depending on him , and thats not a good thing. 6. Try to put TROUGH PASSES. We have all players it takes to win except a good cb but the coaches don’t know how to use them, every coach that comes to Barca thinks: Oh we have messi , every thing will be ok. The whole barca needs to change that kind of Mindset to think they have messi and the can do everything.
parbat_raj-10
300
thank god .now i think barca will win ucl this season. previous many seasons, rivaldo always said barca can win ucl which was real curse. now if he has spoken against barca means, there is 99% chance barca win ucl.
-Kyle_Tyson-
165
If we can secure a strong CB and a striker in January. We can actually surprise everyone