Bayern and Man City joint Champions League favourites on betting sites
UEFA have confirmed that the Champions League final is now set for Lisbon on August 23, with a mini-tournament taking place in Portugal’s capital in order to complete the competition.
With a clear conclusion set, football bettors can make more of an informed selection on the Champions League winner outright market, which is led by co-favourites Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
When the market opened last June, City were the shortest price across the board, but those odds drifted as they were drawn against Real Madrid in the last 16. The 2018-19 English Premier League champions won 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, and are once again a 3/1 shot to win their first continental trophy since the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970.
It remains unclear where the second leg between City and Los Blancos will take place, and with such uncertainty, some punters may be tempted by the 35/1 price available on some online betting sites for Zinedine Zidane’s side lifting the trophy they are all so familiar with.
The best price on Bayern Munich winning their sixth European Cup can be found on 888sport, whose payout percentage, on the whole, is excellent. You can get 11/4 on the German outfit whose status as Bundesliga champions was confirmed on June 16th.
Hans-Dieter Flick’s men are all but through to the last eight thanks to a 3-0 win away at Chelsea in their first leg in February.
Facing a more difficult second leg is Barcelona, who were held to a 1-1 draw by a Napoli side who have shown in the past week with their Coppa Italia triumph that they know how to succeed in cup competitions.
Odds of 6/1 are available on the Catalan giants, while Napoli could be overpriced at 66/1. Besides Chelsea, only Lyon, who beat Juventus 1-0 in the first leg of their last 16 tie, have bigger odds than Napoli at 80/1.
Two teams safely through to the quarter-finals are Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid, neither of whom should be ruled out. Both are on the hunt for their maiden European Cup and having seen off Borussia Dortmund and champions Liverpool respectively, they can each stake a claim for this being their year.
PSG will have only played two competitive games – two domestic cup finals in late July – in the space of five months by the time they rock up in Lisbon, and that is reflected in their 7/1 price which had previously been as short as 4/1.
Manager Thomas Tuchel also faces the prospect of losing key players in the summer, with Edinson Cavani and Thomas Meunier on the way out upon the expiration of their contracts.
Another team set to lose a major asset is RB Leipzig, as Timo Werner will become a Chelsea player on July 1. Football betting sites in the UK have the German outfit priced at 14/1 to win the tournament, but it is difficult to see how they will do that without their top goalscorer.
Quietly going about their business at 22/1 is a free-scoring Atalanta side who took no time getting back up to speed as they thumped Sassuolo 4-1 in their first game back in Serie A following a three-month layoff.
Before that, they had beaten Valencia 8-5 on aggregate in the Champions League last 16, with a 7-2 drubbing of Lecce sandwiched in between each leg. The term ‘dark horses’ has never been more fitting.
Whatever the outcome might be, it is excellent news that football fans will get to see the Champions League end properly, and while the postponement of Euro 2020 left a big tournament-shaped hole in the summer schedule, this mini-competition is sure to do its best to fill the void.
