Place Your Bets! These Are the Favorites To Win This Year’s Champions League

Real Madrid, is always been the favorite. The defending champion had a relatively comfortable group stage, however, in the round of 16 they will have to face Liverpool, the last Champions League final is repeated and as happened in the previous tournament, the 'Merengue' team will have to overcome the better to win their favorite trophy for the fifteenth time.

Led by the Ballon d'Or winners Karim Benzema and Luka Modric, added to the new blood that Vinicius, Rodrygo, and the World Cup finalist Aurelien Tchouameni give him favoritism against those led by Jürgen Klopp, who despite being very complicated, it is experiencing low hours due to the irregularity in the results and the injuries that its main figures have suffered this season.

PSG and the 2020 rematch? The Parisian team had an irregular group stage and lost first place in their area at the hands of the surprise Benfica from Portugal, so in the round of 16, they will have to face the always favorite Bayern Munich. The 2020 Lisbon final is repeated, but this time the French will have Lionel Messi, captain, and figure of the world champion team, and Kylian Mbappé in one of the best moments of his sports career, being a finalist and scorer in Qatar 2022.

Those led by Christophe Galtier will have to display the best of their football to eliminate the Bavarian team, which has already sent Barcelona to play in the Europa League thanks to a great team game and a powerful attacking quartet led by veteran Thomas Müller, accompanied by the mischief and dribbling off the young Jamal Musiala, the physical display of Serge Gnabry and the talented Leroy Sané.

The City Champions League? Those led by Josep Guardiola have been protagonists in recent editions of the Champions League, finalists in 2021 and semifinalists in 2022, they have been consolidating one of the most powerful teams on the continent, and thanks to the arrivals of Norwegian Erling Haaland and Argentine Julián Álvarez, once again have great power on the attack front, managing to fill the void left by Sergio 'Kun' Agüero, the team's all-time goalscorer.

In the group stage, the English team qualified undefeated and was the leader of a problematic zone where they had to face rivals like Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund. In the round of 16, they will face RB Leipzig, who lost their top figure Christopher Nkunku, who suffered a knee injury while training with the French team, days before the start of the World Cup. With a more comfortable path on paper than their direct rivals, the sky-blue team from Manchester is expected to advance to the final instances.

Starting next February 14, Valentine's Day, lovers of European football will enjoy the return of the most crucial club tournament in the world. With early finals, stellar rosters and magical nights in all the stadiums, the fight to reach the final game in Turkey on June 10 is about to begin.