Lamine Yamal Predicts Champions League Winner—And It’s Not Barcelona
Lamine Yamal has identified Paris Saint-Germain as the favorites to win the Champions League again this season.
Having lifted the trophy for the past two years, the French giants are on for a European three-peat this season, a feat only ever achieved previously by Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich.
Luis Enrique’s team is among the bookies’ favorites once again in 2026–27, though they face stiff competition from the likes of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Yamal’s own Barcelona.
The Spanish champions are the most in-form team in Europe at the start of the new season, having won six from six in La Liga, while racking up an impressive 28 goals. Barça also made light work of their Champions League opener, beating Feyenoord 5–1, and appear set up to go deep in the tournament.
Yamal Names Champions League Favorite, Barça ‘Weak Point’
Still, Yamal is not getting carried away and insists PSG are the team to beat in Europe’s top competition.
“I think PSG,” he told Movistar. “But their problem is that it’s very difficult to win after winning.
“That’s the hardest thing in football. When you win a title, winning again is the most difficult thing. That’s the fear I have when we win something, that we’ll relax.”
Meanwhile, the 19-year-old suggested physicality has been Barça’s undoing when they reach the business end of the competition.
“Our weak point is facing opponents like Bayern Munich or PSG, who are more physical and force you to run a lot and stay focused the entire match,” he said. “Arsenal is a more tactical game, focused on possession.”
In 2025–26 Barça went out in a surprise quarterfinal defeat to La Liga rivals Atlético Madrid and fell to Inter Milan at the semifinal stage the year before.
Time Is Now for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona
Barça have not won the Champions League since 2015—then managed by current PSG boss Luis Enrique—and have only made it as far as the semifinals twice in the 11 years since their last triumph.
However, the team that manager Hansi Flick has built over the last two years appears primed to take the next step.
Barcelona have won La Liga in both seasons the German has led the club and have enjoyed a record-breaking start to 2026–27. La Blaugrana’s domestic dominance, coupled with its continued progress back toward a position of financial strength, mean, at the very least, the excuses for not winning are dwindling fast.
The raw ingredients are there: seven (very recent) World Cup winners, a coach who has won it before, a thriving academy, some of the best attacking talent on offer anywhere in world soccer, and the addition of the game’s best midfield general in Rodri this summer.
Yamal may not want to put Barça in the same bracket as PSG publicly, but they undoubtedly should be considered as one of the defending champions’ biggest challengers this season.
