Lionel Messi Vows to Bring Champions League Success Back to Barcelona After Assuming Club Captaincy
Lionel Messi has backed La Liga's dominance in the Champions League of recent years to continue by vowing he and his Barcelona team-mates "will do everything possible" to lift the trophy in the Spanish capital next year.
Bitter rivals Real Madrid created history in Kiev in May by becoming the only side to secure three successive successes in the competition in its current format - and being the first to do so at the pinnacle of European club football since Bayern Munich in 1976.
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With doing so, they continued a five year reign of Spanish sides claiming the silverware, with Barça doing so only once in that time in 2015.
However, while Real Madrid were celebrating their history-making run, Barça were recollecting themselves after being shockingly dumped out of the competition by AS Roma - as they surrendered a two-goal second leg advantage - the second year in a row the Catalonians failed to get past the quarter finals.
But while addressing the club's fans inside the Camp Nou, new captain Messi insisted the club has "unfinished business" with the Champions League, and believes he is now surrounded by the right men to claim top spot once again.
"I think that this year we have put together a squad to be excited about," the Argentine stated. "I think the signings that have come in have helped us a lot to be better than we were before.
"Although last year was very good for us, and we won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, we still have some unfinished business in the Champions League - more than anything, because of the way we were knocked out of the competition.
"Today we promise that we will do everything possible so that the much coveted Champions League will come back to the Camp Nou."
Barcelona begin their domestic season proper on Saturday evening when Alaves travel to Catalonia; however, will have to wait until Monaco on August 30 to discover what lies ahead in the Champions League this season when the draw for the group stage will be made.
