5 teams most likely to win the Champions League 2017/18

2. FC Barcelona

Surprisingly, Barcelona seem to be doing alright without Neymar

Everyone predicted Barcelona to have a bad season, following their 5-1 humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid following the departure of Neymar Jr.

Fast forward four matches into the season and the reality now is the opposite as they lead Real Madrid by 4 points going into Matchday 6. They seem completely unaffected by the departure of Neymar and to add the icing on the cake, their record signing Dembele hasn't even showcased his true potential. However, his injury is now a source of worry for the Catalans.

The midfield has started to click once again and Paulinho has quickly adapted to his new team. They have won all their matches. Everything is going pretty smoothly for a team whose board has been highly criticized for not signing any good players.

Nelson Semedo has been quite a find and Umtiti seems ready to take hold of Barcelona's defence in future. And they started their European campaign by thrashing Juventus 3-0 at Camp Nou.

To boast, Barcelona has already won 5 Champions League titles, with their last title coming in 2015 when they defeated Juventus in the finals. Barcelona seems ready to pose a serious threat to all the other teams in Champions League, as always.

Player to watch: Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi

593 Games. 522 Goals. 233 Assists.

One of the two best players of this generation, some even consider him to be the greatest of all time. Lionel Messi is a team on his own. With him in the team, no other player can be in the spotlight though he does his best to keep all of his teammates happy.

One cannot argue about the strengths of this man. Just give him the ball, and he will leave the defenders dumbfounded. With agility and dribbling like his, you wouldn't want to play against him even on his bad days.

Messi also ranks second in the all-time top scorers' list of the Champions League with 96 goals in just 112 matches. He has started this season in the best way possible and has amassed 9 goals in 5 La Liga matches and 2 in a Champions League match already. Expect the numbers to keep rising. Messi could very well be the best player in the Champions League this term.