We're down to 16 teams in the Champions League, and the draw proved to be incredibly friendly to some teams and horrifying for others.
The odds to win the Champions League changed drastically after the draw a couple weeks ago, and we're on the verge to seeing whether those line moves are justified or not.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ODDS AT BOOKMAKER.EU
Barcelona +200 Bayern Munich +240 Real Madrid +550
Manchester City +1000
Atletico Madrid +1200
Paris Saint-Germain +1400
Chelsea +1800
Juventus +2600
Arsenal +3000
Zenit St. Petersburg +5000
Wolfsburg +5300
Roma +7000
Benfica +10000
PSV Eindhoven +15000
Field (Any Other Team) +15000
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Chelsea
Benfica vs. Zenit St. Petersburg
Racing Gent vs. Wolfsburg
AS Roma vs. Real Madrid
Arsenal vs. Barcelona
Juventus vs. Bayern Munich
PSV Eindhoven vs. Atletico Madrid
Dynamo Kiev vs. Manchester City
TEAMS TO WATCH
It's obvious that the teams which got the short end of the stick were Arsenal, Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich. You never really expect that the top teams in the league are the ones who are stuck playing against each other, but it was clear when PSV Eindhoven, PSG, Juventus, AS Roma and Arsenal finished second in their groups that there were going to be some wicked matchups.
Still, the fact that one of the best teams in England is going to face arguably the best team in the world and one of the beasts in Italy will take on the best team in German soccer for the better part of the last decade is impressive this early in the Champions League.
PSG has had a history of getting out of the first knockout round in this tournament and then running into a team like Chelsea. In this case though, the Parisians are going to have to deal with the Blues in the opening knockout round. Still, with the way that Chelsea is playing right now and with Guus Hiddink just trying to get his act together in England, clearly, the Blues could be in the weeds. That said, with the Premier League title clearly out of the question, the only way to ensure safety into the Champions League next year is to win this tournament, making these two matches in February and March against PSG the most important of the rest of the season for Chelsea.
Both Chelsea and PSG are amongst the favorites still in this tournament at +1800 and +1400 respectively.
Arsenal was a 10 to 1 choice to win the Champions League before the draw came out for the knockout rounds. Once it was paired with Barcelona though, it dropped to 30 to 1. It's more or less assumed that no one is going to be able to take out the Catalan side over the course of 180 minutes along the way to the Champions League final, and that's why they're the 2 to 1 favorites with 16 teams left in this field.
We've seen some odd things before in this competition, but for all intents and purposes, there seemingly isn't a lot of hope for Arsene Wenger's side.
Instead, the team with the best odds in Britain to win the Champions League as we see it is Manchester City. The Citizens are playing well domestically, and they've got a favorable opening knockout round draw against Dynamo Kiev. This should end up being a walk in the park for the Sky Blues, especially knowing that they're likely to bolster their roster in the January transfer period before ever having to step back on the pitch in European competition.
Sure, we're a bit afraid that Man City won't have the horses to put up with Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, but the longer those three teams are avoided, the more likely one, or all of them trip up or get paired with each other. Getting a price of 10 to 1 on what probably is still the best team in England to win the Champions League is likely quite a favorable price, though it should be noted that an English team hasn't even reached the final of the UCL since Manchester United lost to Barca at Wembley in 2011. The last Champions League winner from England was Man U in an all-England final against Chelsea in 2008.
Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform.
Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so start betting with BookMaker today!
