Here are the odds from William Hill: Chelsea 7.00 Barcelona 8.00 AC Milan 8.00 Real Madrid 8.50 Juventus 10.00 Arsenal 11.00 Man Utd 12.00 Inter Milan 15.00 Bayern Munich 17.00 Liverpool 21.00 Lyon 23.00 PSV Eindhoven 41.00 Villarreal 51.00 Schalke 51.00 Real Betis 51.00 Werder Bremen 67.00 Monaco 67.00 Fenerbahce 67.00 Benfica 67.00 Udinese 81.00 Sporting Lisbon 81.00 Porto 81.00 Olympiakos 81.00 Lille 81.00 Ajax 81.00 Shakhtar Donetsk 101.00 Rangers 101.00 Club Brugge 101.00 Celtic 101.00 Panathinaikos 126.00 Lokomotiv Moscow 126.00 Everton 126.00 Dynamo Kiev 126.00 Anderlecht 151.00 Trabzonspor 201.00 Sparta Prague 201.00 Slavia Prague 301.00 Partizan Belgrade 301.00 Hajduk Split 301.00 Basel 301.00 Rapid Vienna 401.00 Malmo 401.00 Brondby 401.00 Wisla Krakow 501.00 Rosenborg 501.00 CSKA Sofia 501.00 Valerenga 751.00 Steaua Bucharest 751.00 Maccabi Haifa 751.00 Thun 1001.00 Debrecen 1001.00 Skonto Riga 1501.00 Gorica 1501.00 FC Haka 1501.00 Artmedia Petrzalka 1501.00 Anorthosis 2501.00 Sheriff Tiraspol 3001.00 If your looking for a good bet take Inter(15-1). They could have won the title last year if they weren't drawn against their bogey team(Milan). They looked great last year in europe going undefeated in their first twn games in the CL until they met Milan. Inter's squad is especially suited to the CL and as long as they don't meet Milan I feel they have as good a chance as any to lift the european cup. I also like Villarreal's odds at 55-1. They have as good an attacking squad as any in europe so goals won't be a problem. If they can sign one or two quality defenders it wouldn't be crazy to see them in Paris come next May. If you bet any money on Arsenal, PSV, Liverpool, Betis, Udinese, Everton, Rangers, or Celtic you're better off just flushing it down the toilet. So why waste the effort in placing the bet in the first place
Chelsea, Milan, Barca, Real Madrid, Inter, Bayern, Lyon when you look at it it truly is just the usual suspects, even with all of the surprises of the last few years, we've still got our stalwarts.
Yup, and I suppose all those folks who had bets on Liverpool winning the CL last season were 'fushing it down the toilet' were they? LOL. That's a funny statement from you. I know a West Ham fan who won a couple hundred quid betting on Liverpool.
LOL, but none of the above 'stalwarts' actually WON it last year did they? Or the season before. Why are Barca and Inter considered 'stalwarts' by you? Since when have Barca or Inter even reached the final in recent years?
The odds of repeating are very difficult. And face it, Liverpool winning the CL last year was a bit fortunate. I would have said the same thing about Porto. Don't bet on the defending champion in the CL. Better teams than Liverpool haven't repeated.
I think three of Barca, Chelsea, Milan, Lyon, Inter or Real will make the semis. The fourth team though, I feel will be a dark horse like Villarreal, Schalke or Benfica. I just can't pick a winner right now, though I consider Barca very slight favorites.
Oh, we know that. Most teams who win the CL have a bit of fortune. Milan, for example, were very fortunate to win their semi final against PSV. I still don't think Milan will be back for a good while.
I can't believe a person actually thinks Shalke has better odds than Bayern. In any case, everyone is allowed to dream. Everyone keeps including Milan but I'd say Juventus has pretty much the same chance that Milan has...there is not much between the two teams. Milan went further in the CL last season but Juve beat them out domestically, in the end, both lost to Liverpool. It will certainly be interesting next season because the usual suspects will have heavy competition from many many possible dark horses. The number and quality of "second rate" teams is high this season and will make for quite the competition. I wouldn't be surprised if another "small" team got to the final.
i would put my money on chelsea, im sure Jose will be more in tune this year and i fancy another dark horse in the final, fc shalke/lyon/psv maybe what about everton?
Clever point, but if the fellow you were responding to meant to say Chelsea don't have the pedigree some other clubs on this poll do, he wasn't wrong. At the very least, they shouldn't have double the votes Madrid or Milan have here, especially as their transfer season has been so quiet. They wanted a killer striker like Adriano and they haven't lured one in yet. No disrespect to Chelsea--they're fantastic--but they have a bit more to do before being a universal favorite IMHO.
There has been some very good thoughts mentioned, and for the most part have been all quality posts, I am posting now to say Inter has had the least amount of love so far being the last to get any votes. Someone had to be it, and with Juve and AC in the same league I guess they play a little smaller of a role, still a great team though.
The Favorites: #1 Milan #2 Chelsea Very solid teams, that will go far in the competition: #1 Juventus #2 Bayern Munich #3 Manchester Utd Teams with incredible skill that will probably flake somewhere in the 1/16 or in the quarter finals. #1 Barcelona #2 Real Madrid #3 Arsenal #4 Inter Milan Underdogs with potential to go far: #1 Liverpool #2 Porto #3 Lyon #4 PSV Eindhoven Final 16: 3/4 English teams 3 Italian teams 2/3 Spanish teams 2 French teams 1/2 German teams 1/2 Dutch teams 1/2 Portuguese teams 1 Greek, Czech or Russian teams
The thing is that most the underdogs are underdogs because they can't afford their players because they recruit well and their players become stars and want a lot more money elsewhere. So unless you play for the big clubs in UK, Spain, Italy, or Bayern (only top German club) you can't really keep your players. Like if Porto, PSV, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon, and Wisla Krakow to name a few were able to keep their home grown talent they would be contenders every year for the CL. Its just that more times than not the great Portuguese, Dutch, and Polish players play elsewhere.
1-FC Juventus 2-Real Madrid Loosers Semifinals :Internazionale;Barcelona Loosers 1/4 Finals Milan,Chelsea,Manchester,Lionnayse,
Yea, for intance the 94-96 Ajax that went to 2 consecutive CL finals (and won 1), a brilliant generation of players, and the Porto of 02-04 that won uefa cup and CL, the main force of the portuguese national team that went to euro2004 final, both dismantled by force of the market laws and players ambition.