Champions League predictions: Liverpool, Real Madrid or Barcelona?

BBC’s chief football writer Phil McNulty: My pick to win it are Liverpool, purely on the basis of the huge strengthening they have carried out this summer. Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak are two high-class players who are Champions League-ready.

The vagaries of the new league system last season saw Liverpool meet eventual winners PSG in the last 16, where they lost on penalties at Anfield.

If Liverpool reach the knockout phase, which they surely will, then the Anfield factor grows with every game.

PSG will be the big danger once again, a superb side who deserve the status as the best team in Europe, while Real Madrid come into every Champions League conversation as potential winners.

BBC’s senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel: I’m going for Liverpool. Four wins from four in the Premier League and they haven’t even nearly hit top gear yet. Oh, and Isak is waiting in the wings. Arne Slot’s side are the team to beat.

Former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger: Real are usually the club with the strongest mentality in this competition, but PSG have to be one of the favourites and Liverpool are too, given that they had such a good Premier League season then invested so much in their squad.

Those two teams come immediately to mind when I think about who will play in the final, and if I have to pick one to win it then I will go with Liverpool. Their squad depth is excellent, the quality was already there and now they have got Isak up front as well.

BBC Radio 5 Live football correspondent John Murray: When a team wins Europe’s richest league at a comparative canter then spends the best part of half a billion pounds on new players, while at the same time securing the services of two of the club’s greatest servants, it’s difficult to tip anyone other than Liverpool.

Last season they lost out only narrowly to the eventual winners in a penalty shootout. It would be a tremendous prospect if this season Liverpool and PSG were to make it all the way to the final in Budapest.

Match of the Day commentator Steve Wilson: Tipping Real Madrid to win the Champions League is hardly the work of a soothsayer, but you are not likely to be far wrong. I thought Xabi Alonso did some interesting things with his squad in the Club World Cup – and getting Arda Guler more involved can only be a good thing.

His progress was held back by the affection everyone at the Bernabeu had for Luka Modric, now he has licence to really spread his wings.

The Observer football correspondent Rory Smith: It’s been a frankly unacceptable one season since Real Madrid won the trophy the club sees as its birthright, and Xabi Alonso’s main task as manager is to put that right. Real are never the most coherent team in Europe, but they have more individual talent than anyone, and often that is what matters.

Former England captain Steph Houghton: I am backing PSG to win it again. They are a young squad that has experienced winning already, plus they are athletic and forward thinking.

Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin: For a change, I went with my head over my heart. I love PSG and the way they play, and the way they have changed the way football is being played now with their attacking attitude. I also love that they love their wingers!

Spanish football expert Guillem Balague: I feel PSG have started a new era of success that has to do with using cleverly the predominant model of our times -positional football – mixed with quality, clear leadership and top players in each position.

Barcelona will be close, but I’m not sure they will sort out their defensive deficiencies.

BBC Champions League analyst Stephen Warnock: I think Barcelona will win it – and I am going with Lamine Yamal to be the tournament’s star player.

Former Arsenal defender Matt Upson: I have gone for Barcelona, who are a young team that have grown from the experience of their cracking run to the semi-finals last season.

They were very unlucky not to make the final, and played brilliantly against Inter Milan – they just got exposed by a really rigid Inter team that had a way of playing and did what it said on the tin. But Barca will have learned from that.

The club appears a little bit unstable off the pitch at the moment but on it they have a nice balance of special young talent and know-how – with the likes of Robert Lewandowski to come on and impact games.

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