Barcelona was in the group of hell last season where Bayern Munich, Inter Milan are the two teams that really have good preparedness from their squad. Barcelona, which appeared with many young players, was still not good enough to face pressure, they even appeared with an incomplete squad due to several injuries. This season should be different as Barcelona seem ready to take on the Champions League challenge despite their failures last season.
You are saying this retrospectively, but who and what was Inter Milan when nobody predicted that they would end up playing a Champions League final? The group was quite obvious and then Inter Milan shocked everyone when they went further and further in the competition.
Compared to Inter and Bayern Munich, people also think that Barcelona is not one of those who have a big chance to qualify for the top 16 last season. I'm not saying they are bad, but Barcelona's players' injury problems, especially in defense, have prevented them from going far in the 2022-2023 Champions League.
This year it will be harder because people adjusted their expectations, but I still think that they are one of the contenders because they know how to play these competitions.
This year will certainly be more difficult considering that almost all teams have made improvements to their squad. It's hard to say who is the absolute favourite, but I tend to agree that the Champions League will still be dominated by Premier League teams this season.
Manchester City and Arsenal are the two Premier League top teams in the Champions League, while Barcelona and Real Madrid will also be the same. Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter and Napoli are also worthy, while Milan are likely to make the same effort as last season. My favorites are Manchester City and Real Madrid, but I don't rule out the Bundesliga team going higher.