Champions League Futures 2023/24 (Knockout Rounds)

The Champions League returns on February 13 with the 1st leg of the Round of 16 kicking off. The group stage had some obvious results with some of the bigger favorites and there were also some big surprises with certain clubs exiting the competition, but now it is down to the final 16 clubs in the knockout stages and this is where the true contenders tend to pull through. With the final 16 teams decided now, it is time to see who these true contenders are compared to the pretenders left in the competition. 

Manchester City +187: Man City is the team with the best chance to win the competition according to the oddsmakers. Man City are the defending champions of the Champions League from last season as well as being the Treble winners and the Club World Champions after winning the Club World Cup back in December. They have the best team in the world right now with a lot of talent in their squad, but their depth is definitely lacking from last season with the players they lost in the summer transfer window. They still have a very strong team but repeating is always a difficult challenge, especially when splitting their focus between different competitions as well as not having the same hunger to win after winning the previous year. Manchester City is a very good team that is still one of the best in the competition but their depth could become an issue deeper in the competition as they will also be focused on winning the Premier League Title again. There is still some value at this price for the best team in the world right now, but there are going to be a lot more obstacles for them this time around and there are better options with more value to win this competition this year.

Bayern Munich +400: Bayern Munich is the next team on the list with the best chance at winning this competition according to the oddsmakers. Bayern Munich has had their struggles in their domestic league this season as they currently sit in 2nd place, 2 points behind Leverkusen, but they still have a very impressive 15-2-2 record in the league this season. This is also a competition they are very focused on winning this season as they have not won the Champions League Title in a few years now and acquiring Harry Kane from Tottenham in the Summer Transfer Window was a big step taken towards winning this title. They were very impressive in the group stage as they topped their group with a 5-1-0 record and the addition of Kane was a much needed piece in their attack as they never truly replaced the striker they lost in Lewandowski when he departed for Barcelona. Now Bayern is a real contender in this competition as their attack has been flowing much better and generating more scoring chances, but their biggest issue in this competition has always been defense which is something they have also corrected. The club hired Tuchel as their manager and his defensive system has improved this team a lot as they have only allowed 18 goals in their 19 matches this season which is the 2nd best defense in the Bundesliga and they allowed 6 goals in the Champions League group stage which was among the top 5 for goals allowed. Between their new flowing attack and their much better defense, Bayern Munich is finally a true contender to win this competition and they have a lot of value at this price.

Real Madrid +550: Real Madrid is the next team on the list with the best chance at winning this competition according to the oddsmakers. Real Madrid has been a dominant team in Europe over the last few years and they were the last champions of the Champions League prior to Manchester City winning it last season. They won La Liga last season but fizzled out of the Champions League in the semi-finals. Once again, they are having a great season in La Liga as they currently sit in 2nd place, just 1 point behind the leading Girona, and they also had a great group stage as they finished at the top of their group at 6-0-0. Real Madrid has had a bigger issue on their hands this season though as they acquired a lot of young talented players in the Summer Transfer Window and they have been a great addition to the team, but they have also struggled at times with these players in the lineup and have struggled to score goals with a lot of their wins this season coming from goals that came very late in their matches, even coming in stoppage time at the death of matches. They still have a lot of their experienced players on the team but they are also getting much older and they have had to deal with injuries to core players in their lineup as well. Real Madrid still has a very good team that is going to improve a lot with their young talent, but this team has been off this season and they are just not ready right now to compete for this title with some of the better teams in Europe. Real Madrid is not the best option to win this competition this year.

Arsenal +550: Arsenal is the next team on the list with the best chance at winning this competition according to the oddsmakers. Arsenal is back in the Champions League after years thanks to a very good season last year which almost saw them take home the Premier League Title but had to settle for 2nd place instead. They are once again having a great season in the Premier League as they are in the top 4 and fighting for the title, but they have not been the same team they were last season and a lot of that has to do with the extra matches they are playing now. Arsenal had a great season in the Premier League last year but they fizzled out in the Europa League as they were unable to maintain focus on both competitions. They added to their depth in the summer time and ended up topping their group in the group stage with a 4-1-1 record, but their form in the Premier League began to dip as they had to deal with the condensed schedule of being in different competitions in December. They have been starting to play much better in January as they have had less competitions to worry about, but this is not a team that can make a deep run in the Champions League when focusing on the Premier League Title as well. As Arsenal gets deeper into the competition, they will begin to fade as they do not have the depth or the experience to deal with wear that will come late in the season and against much better teams. There is no real value in Arsenal to win this competition this year as they do not have the team to do so. 

Paris Saint-Germain +1200: PSG is the next team on the list with the best chance at winning this competition according to the oddsmakers. PSG is having a good season in Ligue 1 as they are leading the league with a 6 point lead over 2nd place. They also acquired a lot of good young talent in the Summer Transfer Window to replace some key pieces that left the team as well as preparing for a likely future without Kylian Mbappe next season. PSG is usually one of the bigger favorites to win this competition every year and they have underperformed every year as well. This might be their last chance to make a deep run with their star player likely to leave in the summer, but this is also a team that underperformed once again in the group stage this year as they finished in 2nd place behind Dortmund with a 2-2-2 record. PSG has a team with a lot of good players that always seems to dominate a weaker French league but they also continue to underperform in this competition as they just are not good enough to compete at a high level with the best teams in Europe. There is not a lot of value in PSG at this price as they are not a true contender.

Barcelona +1600: Barcelona is the next team on the list with the best chance at winning this competition according to the oddsmakers. Barcelona has been a very interesting team over the last 2 seasons with the changes they have gone through. They signed a lot of players in the Summer Transfer Window 2 years ago which saw them go on to win the La Liga Title last season, but they also fizzled out of the Champions League in the group stage which was a huge failure. They also could not afford all of the players they signed which led to a massive mess that made them unable to improve the team in this transfer window as they had to sell a lot of those players they signed and pay off their debt. Now they have a solid core group of players for this year, but they have not performed well as they currently sit in 4th place of La Liga. They did have a much better Champions League campaign as they were more focused on this competition and topped their group with a 4-0-2 record. They also had a much weaker group though and their defense has taken a big step back from last year as well. A big reason why they were able to win the La Liga Title last year was their great defense as they rarely allowed goals in their matches. That has not been the case this season though as they have been conceding a lot more goals and that is going to get them into trouble the deeper they go as they will come against teams with much better defense. Barcelona also has a very difficult Round of 16 matchup against a Napoli team that has the talent to eliminate them so the road is going to be very hard for Barcelona right from the start of the knockouts. Barcelona is another team that has just been off this season and they still need more time to improve their squad if they want to be a contender in Europe. There is no value in this price for Barcelona to win this competition.

Inter Milan +1800: Inter Milan is the next team on the list with the best chance at winning this competition according to the oddsmakers. Inter Milan has been having a very good season this year as they are leading the Serie A and have the best team in Italy this year with the talent they have. They finished in 2nd place of their group with a 3-3-0 record but this is still a team that went to the Champions League final last year and lost in a very tight match with Man City. Inter Milan got a taste of the Champions League final last season and there is no doubt that this competition is a big focus for them as well as winning the Serie A Title, but they also have the talent and depth to focus on both competitions. They also have the experience of making a deep run from last year and the pain of losing a very close match in the finals which will drive their hunger to perform as best as they can. Inter Milan has also maintained their great form in 4 different competitions all season, but now they do not have the cups to worry about so they are going to have full focus on winning these 2 titles. Inter Milan has the defense and the talent in their squad with the experience to make a deep run in this competition and they are going to have the hunger as well which is what has been driving their dominant performance in matches this season. They can compete with the best clubs in Europe as they showed last year and they have the same core team with some improvements as well. Inter Milan is a real contender to win this competition and they are a huge dark horse at this price. There is a lot of value in Inter Milan to win this competition. 

There are a lot of good teams in this competition as these are the best teams in Europe right now and any team that can get through the group stage of this competition should be viewed as one of the best in Europe. There can only be 1 winner of this competition though and as good as every team may be, some are much better than others or simply do not have the depth to make a deep run late in the season in a competition like this. The teams that were left off this list are still very good but do not have the best chance at beating the odds to win the Champions League Title this year. There is always going to be a dominant powerhouse team that makes the finals and Bayern Munich has the talent and depth to be that team this season with some great value at +400. There is also the possibility of a dark horse team making it to the finals though as we saw last year with Inter Milan and they might just be that team again with the way they have improved from last year and the experience of that deep run they now have on their side. Bayern Munich at +400 is the team with the best value to win this competition going into the Round of 16 but Inter Milan at +1800 also has a lot of value as a dark horse.