The balls are out of the bag and there’s some mouth-watering ties in the Champions League quarter finals with Liverpool facing Real Madrid, Bayern taking on Paris St-Germain and Manchester City tackling the Erling Haaland-led Borussia Dortmund. Looks like Chelsea are playing Porto as well. Good for them.
It’s a nice draw for Thomas Tuchel’s troops and they’ve been making moves in the market as a result. City will be pleased to have landed the Bundesliga’s 5th-placed team while it’s looking tough for the out-of-form Liverpool.
So, what does it all mean for each side’s chances of landing the giant jug-eared goblet? Let’s take a look at the latest betting in Paddy’s Champions League outright winner market.
Manchester City
Manchester City are still the favourites and have shortened a little after landing Dortmund. Pep Guardiola loves to cock it up at this stage, though, and the Champions League quarter-finals have been his Achilles heel at The Etihad. However, can this be the year they do it? Paddy’s punters and traders certainly think so.
Bayern Munich
The holders Bayern Munich face last season’s beaten finalists in the bling-laden shape of PSG. The draw looks a tough one but hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for them in the market. They did beat PSG last time they met, of course. They might not be as good this time around but the German giants certainly know how to get the job done.
Chelsea
Third in our list straight after the draw, the soft-looking challenge of Porto has boosted Chelsea‘s chances somewhat. If The Blues make it past Juventus’ conquerors they will face the winner of Real Madrid v Liverpool in the semis. Suddenly the route to the final looks doable for them.
Liverpool
Talking of Liverpool, they’re next up despite a really bizarre season which has seen them go from being an unstoppable title-winning machine to losing to Fulham and Brighton at home. They also set a new record for being c**p at fortress Anfield along the way. They’ll need to improve to win this competition again.
PSG
They’re probably not shorter because of the challenge they face in the quarters. If history repeats itself then Bayern should have too much nous for the perennial French champions. Can Kylian Mbappe guide his side to glory? Will Neymar bother to turn up? Plenty of big questions still need to be answered around PSG.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid will be appalled to find they’re only ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Porto in this market – but it’s for good reason. They’ve been pretty shambolic by their standards this season and sit third in La Liga, six points behind leaders Atletico. They are surely the value play, though, with a struggling Liverpool side up next in the quarters.
Borussia Dortmund
We’re well into outsider territory now with Borussia Dortmund. Sure, they have Erling Haaland but they probably need another 10 of him if they’re to get past City in the quarters. That, or they just hope Pep pulls off one of his quarter-final disasterclasses again.
Porto
Porto were simply amazing in their humbling of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus team-mates in the last 16 stage but can they repeat that trick against and organised and functional Chelsea? Our traders doubt it very much and so do you lot.
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