Lionel Messi Names His Favourites to Win Champions League This Season

• A number of European powerhouses among them Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are angling for continental glory this season
• Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Man City are the other top clubs looking to lift the Champions League title
• With two rounds of the group stages fixtures already played, Lionel Messi has offered his prediction of the teams he feels could lift the trophy
• In his list of favourites, Messi snubbed former side Barcelona who has endured a torrid run of results across competitions

Lionel Messi has included Premier League heavyweights Man United and Chelsea among his favourites to lift the Champions League title this season.

Messi made the claim amid pressure on Paris Saint-Germain to conquer Europe for the very first time in their history.

PSG, who are one of the biggest-spending clubs in Europe have often come short in the competition in recent years.

However, they lay a marker recently when they outplayed Man City to secure a huge 2-0 over the English champions in a group stage fixture.

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And while Messi contends PSG have the capacity to lift the title, they must be wary of other European powerhouses angling to be crowned champs.

According to the six-time Ballon d'Or winner, Man United, City and Chelsea are among his favourites to cart home the prestigious trophy.

Incidentally, the forward snubbed former club Barcelona in his list of favourites, placing rivals Real Madrid ahead of the Camp Nou-based side.

"It is true that the center of attention is on PSG, but there are other very strong teams, such as Chelsea, the Manchester teams (United and City), Real Madrid, who always responds, Inter Milan, Bayern," he said as quoted by Metro UK.

"That is what makes me say that we are still one step back compared to all these clubs , who have more collective experience than us," he added.

Premier League legend names favourites to win the EPL this season

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In related news, Briefly News previously reported that Liverpool legend Emile Heskey has backed the club to win the Premier League title this season ahead of their rivals.

With just seven matches played, the race for the English topflight crown is already hoting up as heavyweights plot for glory.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, and holders Man City have all been backed as genuine contenders for the title.

The Blues are currently topping the charts with 16 points after bouncing back from successive defeats to City and Juventus to stun Southampton at home.

Liverpool, meanwhile, occupy second place behind the league leaders who they trail by a single point.

Interestingly, the Reds remain the only unbeaten side thus far in the league, with City failing to beat them during their 2-2 draw at Anfield at the weekend.

Heskey, who spent four years with the Merseysiders between 2000 and 2004 now contend the Jurgen Klopp-tutored side are the team to beat in the race for the title.

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According to Heskey, as long as Liverpool can keep fit their starting XI for the better part of the campaign, no one is going to stop them from winning the league.

The former footballer also named Chelsea as favourites to storm to glory but only if "they start picking up a head of steam."

"If Liverpool can keep their starting XI fit, I’ll say Liverpool," Metro UK quoted Heskey saying.

"It’s good! For years, you would just say it was between Arsenal and Manchester United."

"But now you’ve got two, three or four teams – Chelsea you’ve got to throw in their if they start picking up a head of steam – and it makes it a lot better," he added.