UEFA Champions League Best Odds

Real Madrid Favorites For Third Consecutive Title

Unsurprisingly, it is the reigning back-to-back Champions League champions, Real Madrid, who are the bookmakers’ favorites to win this season’s competition. Bovada price the Spaniards at +400 to lift the winner’s trophy aloft, with their nearest rivals being Paris St Germain at +650.

Madrid are hot favorites despite losing the likes of Danilo, James Rodriguez, Pepe and Alvaro Morata, which goes to show how much strength in depth Real Madrid have. The reigning Spanish champions have been drawn in Group H along with Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur and APOEL so should top their group with relative ease.

It is difficult to look past Real Madrid winning the entire competition simply because Cristiano Ronaldo excels in this tournament. The Portuguese superstar is fifth in the all-time list for number of appearances in the Champions League with 140, and is the competition’s all-time leading goalscorer with 105 goals; expect Ronaldo to top the scoring charts once again.

The Neymar Factor

Second-favorites, Paris St. Germain, have been hyped up because of one player. Since signing Neymar from Barcelona for £198 million ($257 million) it is all the soccer press has talked about. The Brazilian creates and scores more than his fair share of goals and has 21 Champions League goals in 40 appearances. 

Neymar will be supplying the likes of Edinson Cavani and the extremely talented youngster Kylian Mbappe, the latter being on loan from AS Monaco before he moves to Paris for €155 million next summer. It is safe to say that nobody will want to face PSG this season purely because of their firepower but also because of the arrivals of Dani Alves and Yuri Berchiche in the full back positions.

Paris start in Group B along with Bayern Munich, Anderlecht and Celtic and I would expect them to top that group, although Bayern (+650 to win the Champions League) are capable of winning.

Barcelona Starting Life Without Neymar

It is amazing to see Barcelona down as only third-favorites for the Champions League but the club seems in disarray at the moment. Not only has Barcelona lost Neymar, the players they have brought in are not exactly Barcelona quality. 

Ousmane Dembele has the potential to be world class, but it remains to be seen how the 20-year-old will cope with the pressure of costing €105 million, while midfielder Paulinho has joined for €40 million despite Tottenham Hotspur fans, one of Paulinho’s former clubs, ranking him as one of the worst players to ever pull on their shirt. 

Don’t completely write off Barcelona because they are capable of beating anyone on their day, plus they have a relatively weak group in Group D which is the home to Sporting Lisbon, Juventus and Olympiacos.

The Pride Of Britain

Those of you looking for an outside bet could consider one of the five English teams in the competition. Tottenham Hotspur have the longest odds at +3300 and I would shy away from betting on them. The same goes for Liverpool at +2000 and probably Chelsea at +1400. This leaves you with Manchester City and Manchester United at +1100 and +1000 respectively.

City have a wealth of attacking talent but have had a less than convincing start to their Premier League campaign and doubt still remain about Pep Guardiola’s side’s defensive capabilities. Conversely, United have started strongly and look like a force to be reckoned with.

The summer signings of Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof have added three giants of men to the squad, and then there is the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic around December to give an already talented squad a major boost.

If I were to bet on anyone apart from Real Madrid or PSG to win the 2017-18 Champions League, it would be Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Looking to bet on the winner of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League? Do you think anyone can stop Real Madrid winning their third title in a row?

Category : Betting Picks

Tag : Soccer , uefa champions league