Which Team Has the Best Shot to Win Next Year’s Champions League Title?

Real Madrid concludes this season with clinching the Champions League title from Atletico Madrid with the score of 4-1. Truthfully, the team’s duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale has managed to click together and became a nightmare matchup for opposing teams. AT Madrid failed to fight back as their goal machine, Diego Costa, dropped out of the game after 9 minutes in the first half because of his hamstring injury.

The season is over and the Champions League title belongs to Real Madrid, making it their tenth. Now, fans raise another question; which team will have the best capacity to win the next year’s CL title?

After thinking about which teams have the potential and tools to claim the Champions League title, I have come down to a conclusion that perhaps Liverpool F.C. has what it takes to be the next champion.

The key to success for Liverpool was not only their players but also their manager, Brendan Rodgers. Before Rodgers was hired as a manager, Liverpool had a rough time where quality of their game, players, and coaches were just completely low. The club was undergoing their lowest point in history before Rodgers came in. Rodgers was different. Not only did he change the starting line up through replacing old generation with a new generation, he also found creative ways that Liverpool players should play. Through Liverpool youth, he discovered Raheem Sterling and Jon Flanegan and gave them numerous opportunities to have them play more often. Also, he progressed the team even more through using formation of 4-3-3, 4-1-2-1-2 which would give Liverpool more advantage in possession games and counter attacks.

One player from Liverpool that has featured prominently is Luis Suarez. Suarez is the most prolific scorer for Liverpool right now as he finished the season with 31 goals. He boasts swift dribbling with the ball, can easily beat out two defenders, is strong physically, and never gets tired of fighting back. Along with Suarez, two other strikers boost the power of Liverpool:  Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge. In history of EPL, no such teams have seen any three players contributing big time to their team. Suarez (31),Sturridge (22), and Sterling (9) all sum their goals up to 62 which is actually more than half of total goals that Liverpool (101) made. It just shows how powerful Liverpool’s offense is when they leave it to Suarez, Sterling, and Sturridge (or should I say 3S) to take care of the team.  To Liverpool, these 3S are the joy while to visiting teams, they are the worst nightmare that they can ever imagine.

Besides 3S, Liverpool has witnessed a growth of fresh and young players who were previously inexperienced and were in slump. Jordan Henderson is the hidden MVP of Liverpool. Ever since he transferred out from Sunderlands to Liverpool on 2011, he was able to grow as center and right midfielder. He was able to start 34 games and Rodgers would undeniably label him as part of the best 11. Before he played for Liverpool, Henderson was sent to Fulham and was forced to return to Sunderlands due to his inconsistency. Now he has improved significantly and there is no problem when he, Steven Gerrard, and Joe Allen become the spine of Liverpool. Also, Jon Flanagan has been able to master his position as left and right wing back and was able to fill the void when Johnson and Enrique were injured. Now, Flanagan is set in the starting lineup as he was able to confidently substitute in for the defense.

But out of all players, no one can deny how much captain Steven Gerrard has put in for the team. 34 year old veteran helped Liverpool become one of top teams in EPL with 10 goals and 14 assists while appearing in all 34 games. Although Liverpool placed 2nd in the league, he has another chance for next season. Even though he knows his time is running out, nobody disagrees that he is the key player in the central midfield and defense. As a player who never won the league title, Gerrard is desperate for a title before he retires.

Even though Liverpool was eliminated early on during the FA Cup and did not go through Champion League games, the team was able to exert its attention to Premiere League more. So, this is probably why this 13-14 season has been the club’s best opportunity to win the Premier League title. It has been 24 years since Liverpool won the League title, but placing in second place in the League may be a promising sign that they can shock Europe next season by finishing at top of the table and winning the UEFA Champions League trophy.