{"id":2234,"date":"2026-10-12T20:52:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=2234"},"modified":"2026-10-12T20:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T12:52:29","slug":"barca-are-the-best-team-in-europe-and-top-champions-league-favourites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/barca-are-the-best-team-in-europe-and-top-champions-league-favourites\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Barca are the best team in Europe and top Champions League favourites&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-11.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-11.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-11-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-11-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ilkay Gundogan reflects on his time at Barcelona, hailing them a cut above the rest ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s reunion with former team-mates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I am not nervous, but it is a special feeling,&#8221; admitted \u0130lkay Gundo\u011fan in an interview with &#8216;Mundo Deportivo&#8217;, looking ahead to the clash between FC Barcelona and Galatasaray SK, where the midfielder currently plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Barca are playing with huge dominance and confidence. To compete against a side in that form, you have to defend almost flawlessly. Right now, for me, Barca are the best team in Europe and clear favourites to win the Champions League,&#8221; he declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He had also long foreseen the emergence of Lamine: &#8220;From his very first training session, it was clear he had unbelievable talent. He plays with a natural ease you rarely see. I wish him only the very best.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The playmaker was equally effusive in his praise for Rodri: &#8220;He has been the most complete holding midfielder in the world for years. Playing alongside him was a true privilege because he brings complete balance to the team. He reads the game before anyone else, wins 50-50 challenges, and dictates the tempo.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ilkay Gundogan reflects on his time at Barcelona, hailing them a cut above the rest ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2236,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234\/revisions\/2236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}