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It can be concluded that this season Barcelona is not in such good condition that their own performance has also declined this season. I'm not really sure that Barcelona will last long enough in the Champions League this season and I'm even starting to doubt that Barcelona will win another trophy in their own domestic league this season.
Let the doubts be yours, while the trust and confidence in Barcelona's ability to have a great season in the Champions League and La Liga belongs to the Barcelona fans. It is very unnatural if you and anyone else believes that Barcelona can win the Champions League title this season because you are not a fan, meaning that every time you talk about Barcelona there will always be negative sentiments that you will express.
I remember that no team that won the Champions League title had a smooth unbeaten run and didn't drop any points since the group stage. That's one fact in recent seasons, but I wouldn't say Barcelona have a better chance of winning the title than Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Barcelona is just one candidate, but they are not the favourites. Barcelona's main task now is to prepare themselves to beat Napoli in the round of 16 and this is not easy, but they have to try to get through to the quarter-finals.
I think candidates and favorites are the same thing and maybe there is no difference, so when you say Barcelona are only candidates and not favorites, I think there is something strange. After all, when a team becomes a candidate then yes, at the same time the team also becomes a favorite so yes, candidate and favorite are something that cannot be separated I guess.
Also, Barcelona's decline in performance this season is a fact and not just a hoax so yes, I think Barcelona is not a candidate, and also not a favorite. Because after all, at least we can also consider that last season when Barcelona managed to win the La Liga title but yes, in reality Barcelona still failed in the Champions League and also in the Europa League.
So yes, considering that and this season Barcelona has experienced a decline in performance compared to last season, even though Barcelona has qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League this time. But yes, still, Barcelona doesn't have a good chance of going further, and that is the reality. However, if to beat Napoli, of course Barcelona can still do it and have a good chance of getting to the quarter-finals but it won't be any more than that.