Dubai: Despite FC Barcelona’s narrow 2-1 win against Manchester City, Spanish tennis player Guillermo Garcia-Lopez believes the La Liga champions will stutter in their campaign in the Uefa Champions League this season.
Garcia-Lopez, who bowed out in straight sets to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in their first round encounter at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open late on Tuesday, is a keen FC Barcelona fan. Not only does he follow the club and its fortunes but also he makes time to visit the Catalans whenever possible.
FC Barcelona had been giving a nice chase to arch-foes Real Madrid in La Liga. But a narrow 1-0 loss to Malaga last weekend saw their hopes dented, a result Garcia-Lopez thinks has something to do with minor adjustments within the team.
“FC Barcelona is a good team. They have some of the best players in the squad, but there are some small things that need to be changed or altered. But this is not the right time for these adjustments to be made as there are other sides such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea who will make use of these faulty areas,” Garcia-Lopez cautioned during a visit to the Lacoste lounge at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The Spanish champions, however, did not show too many signs of weakness in Tuesday night’s 2-1 away victory against Manchester City, with Luis Suarez scoring both goals and Kun Aguero pulling one back for the home team.
“On paper, they may look like the best team in the world. But they have problems behind in the defence that they need to sort out. And the sooner they do this, the better it will be for them,” he suggested.
“Things are going to be different for Barcelona this season. The other teams are aware of their weaknesses and they will be waiting to punish them. I hope they can go on to win both La Liga and the Champions League this year, but I know it is going to be tough and Barcelona may not even make it to the semi-finals of the Champions League,” he predicted.
