UEFA Champions League odds, betting favorites & futures picks for 2021-22 match

Lately, the UEFA Champions League has turn out to be the area of the wealthy and well-known: the European groups with the deepest pockets and largest stars are commonly within the last levels. That is good and unhealthy for soccer bettors.

Barring a once-in-a-lifetime run by an outsider, solely a small group of groups can realistically win or advance to the ultimate. However there are simply sufficient of them to make the futures betting attention-grabbing. 

By the identical token, the dominance of these high groups means the group stage is much less compelling from a futures standpoint. The enjoyable is made up with match-specific group-stage bets since shock outcomes are nonetheless an everyday prevalence, regardless of the predictability of the ultimate standings.

MORE: UEFA Champions League upcoming match schedule & TV

SN makes some picks and predictions on all fronts, together with for high scorer, because the 2021-22 season will get underway: 

Crew to win Champions League

By now you’re in all probability conscious of the thrill across the in style picks to win all of it. However how can one choose a possible winner in September when a pathway to the ultimate hinges on favorable attracts through the knockout rounds? The strategy is simple: Keep away from the hype and choose a possible group winner (group winners are drawn towards runners-up from different teams within the knockout draw).

We all know that Paris Saint-Germain (+360) and Manchester Metropolis (+380) have spent tons of of thousands and thousands to win this trophy, however that additionally comes with a commensurate quantity of strain that may drag a group down. Plus, they’re going to be battling one another in the identical group, and certainly one of them will doubtless end second. If one group one way or the other loses each head-to-head group matchups, its Champions League journey could possibly be over earlier than it has an opportunity to get began.

MORE: Greatest bets for group matches on Tuesday, Sept. 14

Chelsea (+800) has the fourth-shortest odds regardless of being stronger than it was throughout its Champions League-winning run final season. Chelsea supervisor Thomas Tuchel has taken two completely different groups to the ultimate within the final two seasons and he will get the good thing about the doubt with the most effective rosters on this planet. Additionally, the Blues ought to comfortably end atop Group H.

Manchester United (+1400) is one other compelling choose. The additions of Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo will make Man U a group that nobody will wish to face within the knockouts. It ought to end high in Group F and its odds ought to step by step shrink because the match progresses. Don’t get sucked into Actual Madrid (+1600): Below Carlo Ancelotti, it is going to be a contender within the knockouts, however Karim Benzema can’t at all times masks the dearth of elite defensive high quality.

Odds courtesy of FanDuel

Champions League outright winner odds

Groups to succeed in Champions League last

Primarily based on squad budgets and high quality of depth, two keys to surviving the Champions League gauntlet into Might 2022, it’s arduous to see anybody outdoors the favored seven to eight groups reaching the ultimate.

Eleven golf equipment have featured within the final 10 finals (20 whole finalist spots). Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Actual Madrid, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and Juventus are the one ones to make repeat last journeys throughout that span. Outdoors of Juventus, which is within the strategy of resetting after Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure, the others are all candidates to get again to the ultimate this season.

As well as, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester Metropolis seem well-equipped to make one other last after a primary look within the championship sport in 2020 and 2021, respectively. However they may simply as doubtless get tripped up within the knockouts: PSG is a piece in progress with a key star enjoying out the final 12 months of his contract (Kylian Mbappe), and Manchester Metropolis will proceed to have query marks at striker after failing to land a top-level heart ahead.

One of the best bets to make the ultimate are Chelsea (+350) and Bayern Munich (+350) based mostly on expertise, consistency and monitor file. However Manchester United (+500) gives higher odds and its squad is extremely deep. Should you’re already betting Chelsea or Bayern Munich to win all of it, then taking Manchester United right here can be the extra adventurous play.

Among the many lengthy photographs to make the ultimate, Inter Milan (+2500) and certainly one of Atletico Madrid (+1100) or AC Milan (+3500) could possibly be value a flier relying on which of the latter two has the higher begin in Group B (with Liverpool and Porto). Inter won’t be a preferred choose after dropping its coach, high scorer and world-class proper again in the summertime, but it surely has the standard to doubtlessly persuade skeptics over the approaching months. Its group head-to-heads towards Actual Madrid will probably be a measuring stick.

Odds courtes of DraftKings

Champions League finalist odds

Champions League group winners

The teams sometimes go in line with script, however a pair this 12 months are legitimately up for grabs: Teams B and G. Listed below are two potential performs (odds courtesy of FanDuel):

Group B: Atletico Madrid (+200)

Liverpool is the favourite in Group B at -115, however towards storied golf equipment like Porto, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, even Liverpool will drop factors alongside the best way. And Atletico Madrid will probably be a troublesome matchup: Diego Simeone’s group competes simply as fiercely as Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool aspect. The English aspect is off to a robust begin to its home season, however so is Atletico Madrid and it ought to enhance nonetheless as new arrivals Matheus Cunha, Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo De Paul (beneath) get settled into the squad.

Group G: Sevilla (+130)

One other La Liga aspect to control. Sevilla has made extra shrewd acquisitions to a group that was already gifted sufficient to complete fourth in La Liga final season. Sevilla will probably be taking over opponents in group play that, on paper, are inferior (Lille and RB Salzburg) or on par with it (Wolfsburg). Except the favourite tag weighs on Sevilla through the group stage, it’s a realistic aspect that ought to discover a option to safe sufficient outcomes to get the job performed.

Champions League group survivors

Extra attention-grabbing than chasing potential group winners is discovering a possible shock group to advance. There are sometimes a most of two or three of those in every Champions League group stage. Final 12 months it was two German sides ending forward of favored groups: RB Leipzig beat out Manchester United for second place in a single group, and Borussia Moenchengladbach superior over Inter Milan.

Listed below are essentially the most engaging odds for groups to advance to the knockouts in 2021-22 (odds courtesy of FanDuel):

Group E: Benfica (+200)

Bayern’s the favourite to win the group (-700) and Barcelona (-390) is the opposite group pegged to advance. However given the present state of the decimated Blaugrana, a gifted and underrated Benfica aspect must be extra than simply aggressive in these head-to-head matchups. Then second place will come right down to which of the 2 can get most factors towards the fourth group within the group, Dynamo Kiev (+750).

Group G: RB Salzburg (+150)

The Austrian aspect might have misplaced its two greatest gamers in the summertime (Patson Daka, Enock Mwepu), but it surely has extra expertise coming by the pipeline to switch them (Karim Adeyemi, Benjamin Sesko and American Brenden Aaronson, above). The Champions League playoffs have been proof. With Sevilla (-250) the favourite to win Group G, second place must be a scrap amongst Salzburg, German aspect VfL Wolfsburg (-135) and Lille (+100). Salzburg’s chaotic excessive press and all-out attacking strategy may give it the sting towards extra typical and predictable groups like Wolfsburg and Lille.

Champions League high scorer

The record is the ten gamers you’d count on to be favorites to high the scoring charts come subsequent Might. However the last objective rating will probably be decided by greater than star energy. Group stage matchups play an enormous function, as do the group’s probabilities to go deep and the participant’s standing on the group. Does he take the penalties? Will he play all of the video games? Is he the focus of the assault? Does he have competitors for objectives inside his personal group?

Erling Haaland gained this prize final 12 months regardless of a quarterfinal elimination for his Borussia Dortmund group. It helped that he acquired six of his 10 whole objectives within the group stage towards the likes of Lazio, Membership Brugge and Zenit St. Petersburg, which aren’t precisely European powerhouses. Evaluate that to the manufacturing of his foremost challenger, Kylian Mbappe, who had a paltry two objectives (of eight whole) within the group stage and couldn’t make up the distinction within the knockouts.

With that and the group-stage attract thoughts, Haaland (+500) is the most secure guess to run rampant on Ajax, Besiktas and Sporting CP, which supply the same aggressive degree to final 12 months’s opponents. It’s tempting to place cash down on Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo (vs. Villarreal, Atalanta and BSC Younger Boys), but it surely’s up within the air how most of the six group video games the 36-year-old will play because the membership manages his minutes.

After Haaland, the following most attention-grabbing performs are Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku (+750) and Actual Madrid’s Karim Benzema (+1200), who star for groups which have weaker group opponents and may make progress within the knockouts. The lengthy shot is Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez (+6500), who will get to feast on FC Sheriff, Shakhtar Donetsk and a Actual Madrid group that has defensive points.

Odds courtesy of DraftKings

Champions League high scorer odds