Barcelona can win Champions League – Frenkie de Jong

Frenkie de Jong insists Barcelona can win the Champions League this season and put recent traumas in the competition behind them.

The Dutchman only joined the Blaugrana this summer while in each of the past two seasons, the club have suffered harrowing exits from the tournament.

In 2018, they were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Roma after throwing away a 4-1 first leg lead to lose 3-0 in Rome, before going down 4-0 at Liverpool in last season’s semi-final after winning the opening encounter 3-0.

“Yes I think we can win the competition this year,” De Jong told reporters, as cited by Marca.

“The ideas and philosophy between Barcelona and Ajax (De Jong’s former club) are similar, although there are differences and nuances, but it comes from Johan Cruyff.

“There are differences between (Barcelona boss, Quique) Setien and (his predecessor, Ernesto) Valverde, but they both wanted controlled possession of the ball, but there are differences within it.

“I am satisfied with my performance level but I think we can go further.”

It is not only in the Champions League where the Catalan giants have question marks this season but now domestically too.

Setien’s side trail league leaders Real Madrid by three points and there have been doubts and concerns over their form all season, with the new few months set to be crucial once more.

Barca have been drawn against Italian side Napoli in the Round of 16 for the Champions League.

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