PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon claims Barcelona are favourites to win this season’s Champions League because they have ‘the best player in the world’ in Lionel Messi
- Gianluigi Buffon believes Barcelona are favourites for the Champions League
- Buffon says that’s because they have the ‘best player in the world’ in Lionel Messi
- The veteran Italian is also competing in the competition with new club PSG
- He also has backed Serie A giants Juventus to do well in the Champions League
Gianluigi Buffon believes Barcelona are favourites for the Champions League because they have the ‘best player in the world’ in Lionel Messi.
Buffon, who joined PSG from Juventus over the summer, is also competing in this season’s competition with the French champions.
But asked who he expects to lift the coveted trophy in Madrid next year, the Italian instead picked out Barcelona and Juventus as the two favourites.
Lionel Messi (pictured) is the ‘best player in the world’, according to Gianluigi Buffon
Gianluigi Buffon (pictured) believes Barcelona are favourites for the Champions League
Buffon also has backed Cristiano Ronaldo’s (pictured) Juventus to do well in the competition
‘Champions League favorites? You have to say Barcelona because they have the best player in the world,’ Buffon said.
‘Then Juventus who signed the other player (Cristiano Ronaldo) who is considered the best,’ Buffon added.
It is not the first time the Italian has indicated his admiration for Messi.
Back in 2015, he described the attacker as ‘an alien’, while an image of Buffon touching Messi to check he was human also went viral.
The Argentine, however, has missed Barcelona’s last three matches through injury after breaking his arm in the win over Sevilla last month.
Messi has missed Barcelona’s last three games after breaking his arm against Sevilla
The gifted Argentine, however, returned to training on Wednesday ahead of schedule
Messi (pictured) had initially been expected to be out of action for another couple of weeks
In his absence, the Catalan giants have shown their strength in depth, beating Inter Milan 2-0, thumping Real Madrid 5-1 in El Clasico and also winning away at Cultural Leonesa in the Copa del Rey.
They were handed a further boost on Wednesday as star man Messi returned to training ahead of schedule.
The Argentine could make his return in Saturday’s trip to Rayo Vallecano, although the return match against Inter in midweek is perhaps a more realistic target.
Messi has 12 goals and five assists in 12 games so far this season, continuing on from a blistering 2017-18 campaign in which he scored 40 times in just 46 games.
