Bayern and Barca; favorites to win UEFA Champions League

The EUFA Champion’s League has taken another twist this week with the Bavarians and Catalans emerging as strong contenders for this season’s champion’s league trophy.Barcelona are the reigning Spanish champions and have dominated Spanish football in the recent years. Bayern Munich are the most successful football club in Germany and four-time holders of the UEFA Champions’ League.Both clubs have turned their season in an emphatic fashion. Barcelona are behind current Spanish league leaders Real Madrid by 10 points and many pundits thought poor form in the home league would affect them in Europe, but that has not been the case. Last week, the Catalans made heroic headlines after 7-1 mauling of Bayer Leverkusen at home in a match where Lionel Messi scored five goals. After such an emphatic win no one can doubt Barcelona’s potential and power to win become the first team to defend the European crown.They have got talent to make them strong against any opponent and are very dangerous in every game. Brilliance from the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Cesc Fabregas makes Barcelona a hard team to beat. They can concede goals and score many as well.Though the Catalan club is reach in attack, they have looked vulnerable in the defense for most of this season. Gerald Pique and Charles Puyol who have been in command of the Catalan’s defense during previous seasons have looked Vulnerable and have lost form. Central defense is an area where Barcelona is so weak and is a point where opponents break them.This lack of strength in defense reduces the Catalans odds to beat some strong opponents like AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Real Madrid.Another European giant to mention here is the Bayern Munich. The Bavarian club has experience in champions’ league football and has always performed well this competition. They are much more focused when it comes to champions’ league football. Bayern has now silenced critics that had piled over them in recent weeks especially after their loss against Leverkusen away from home two weeks ago.The loss to Leverkusen saw them fall seven points behind current league leaders Dortmund. But their 7-1 mauling of Hoffenheim coupled with Dortmund’s draw away to lowly Augsburg football club in a recent bundesliga fixture has reduced Bayern’s point difference to 5 points.Bayern now still has hopes to catch and snatch the top spot from the reigning Germany champions in Borrussia Dortmund.Like Barcelona routed Leverkusen last week in the champions’ league, this week a lot of ink has been spilled on Bayern’s Mauling of Basel a team that knocked out English giants Manchester United from this season’s champion’s league campaign. Bayern beat the reigning Swiss champions by 7-0 goals to set up a new champion’s league win margin.During the same game, Bayern striker Mario Gomez scored his second hat trick in the competition. He scored four goals in the same match to make him the runners up on the champions’ league scoring chart and one goal behind Lionel Messi.Gomez now has 11 goals tohis name in the Champions’ League. Lionel Messi is the leading top scorer with 12 goalsBayern do possess trickery players in Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben. Both players have made a great impact at the club. They are very quick and do possess mesmerizing skills.When they are fully fit, they can score against any opponent. Defenders face problems to close them down and will take Bayern to greater heights in this season’s Champions’ League.At Munich you meet several rich talents in the likes of Thomas Muller, Philip Lahm and goal Keeper Manuel Neuer. Bayern has got balance in attack, midfield and defense; this aspect gives them a bigger odd a head of Barcelona.Now the two teams will have to mount great challenge during the next rounds. The likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and AC Milan are good teams.