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Who are the favourites to lift the Champions League?

Published 17 Jan 2025

Who are the favourites to lift the Champions League?
The Champions League is set to resume with two more matches in the revamped league stage of the competition left to play. There are some familiar names towards the top of the table, some floating around the middle, and alarmingly for other big teams, there is the real prospect of missing out on qualification completely or making the two-legged play-off round at best.    The new format has also thrown up some surprises with some notable underdog victories in the first six matchdays. AS Monaco stunned Hansi Flick’s Barcelona in the opening matchday, with Lille and Aston Villa beating holders Real Madrid and FC Bayern Munich respectively. Debutants Brest have been incredibly impressive and currently sit in the top eight positions, which guarantee a direct passage to the Round of 16.    With two matches of the league stage remaining, teams certainly know what they need to do. But once we get to the business end of the knockout rounds, who are the favourites to lift the famous trophy on Saturday 31st May in Munich?   pexels.com

Reminder of how the knockout stage works

  • The top 8 teams qualify automatically for the Round of 16 and are seeded depending on where they finish in the league. Seeded teams will play the first leg of the Round of 16 away from home.
  • The teams that finish 9th-24th go into a play-off round to fill the remaining eight spots in the Round of 16. A draw determines the play-off matches. Teams that finish 9th-16th are seeded and will also play the second leg of the play-off at home against an unseeded opponent.
  • From the Round of 16, the tournament continues as we are accustomed to until the final with winners of the play-off round drawn as unseeded teams in the Round of 16.
 

Liverpool

The only team to go through the league stage so far with a 100% record. Along the way, Arne Slot’s men have successfully navigated difficult challenges against AC Milan (3-1), RB Leipzig (1-0), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (4-0), and Real Madrid (2-0) and are rightly installed as favourites to win the competition. Luis Diaz is leading the goalscoring charts for Liverpool in the Champions League, although all three goals came against Leverkusen, while Mo Salah is unsurprisingly leading the charts for assists. The Egyptian has been in scintillating form so far this season with double figures for goals and assists in the Premier League.  

FC Bayern Munich

In his debut season as head coach of FC Bayern, Vincent Kompany has done a good job so far of restoring FCB’s reputation in Germany and in Europe. After failing to win the Bundesliga for the first time in twelve seasons, Kompany has guided FCB back to the top of the league, while also making good progress in the Champions League. The defeat to Aston Villa will go down as an underdog story and although Kompany’s side also fell to defeat against former manager Hansi Flick’s Barcelona team, the Bavarians will be confident of seeing off Feyenoord and Slovan Bratislava to finish in the top eight, before embarking on a run to a potential final in their home stadium.  

Real Madrid

One team that can never be written off is the reigning champions. The record 15-time Champions League winners will always be given a chance of winning the competition with options at the Daily Star ready to back up this claim. Betting markets will always be wary of Real Madrid’s ability to switch gears at will and despite sitting in 20th following an underwhelming campaign to date, Carlo Ancelotti will hope to sneak into the top eight with two more wins, starting with Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday 22nd January. The recent 2-5 humbling in the Spanish Super Cup to rivals Barcelona will be of some concern to Madrid fans. However, it is only a matter of time before the likes of Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, and Kylian Mbappe begin to click.  

What about the rest?

There are plenty of other teams that are in with a shout of lifting the trophy. 2024 finalists Borussia Dortmund have ignored their league form to take twelve points from a possible eighteen so far, while even further behind Real Madrid are Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City. The two face off against each other in a must-win match for both teams.    And what about the Italian clubs? Inter and AC Milan are sitting nicely in the top half of the table, with Atalanta and Juventus also in top eight contention. With such pedigree in Europe’s premier club competition, many teams will fancy their chances. Expect more twists and turns between now and the end of May.
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