The big dog of club football is let off the leash tonight. Here’s who the JOE writers reckon might make you a few quid come May.
Nobody could have predicted how last season’s Champions League finished but undaunted by this overwhelming evidence, here’s who five of our writers will be backing to net them a few quid. The only rules we applied was that you couldn’t pick Barcelona and it had to return decent odds.
All odds courtesy of Paddy Power.
Brian Moss
PSG to win at 22/1
The purchase of the club by moneybags Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) last year and the signing of high-profile players has propelled PSG into the headlines and participation in their first Champions League in almost a decade. No doubt owner Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will have his sights set on winning the trophy in the not too distant future and I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it will be this year.
The group draw has been reasonably kind to last year’s Ligue 1 runners-up as they are in Group A with the two Dynamos, Kiev and Zagreb, with Porto completing the quartet. With names like Thiago Siva, Alex and Ibrahimovic likely to appear on the same team sheet it would be remiss not to take them seriously.
In manager Carlo Ancelotti they have a man who is no stranger to lifting the European Cup aloft having done it four times, twice as a player and twice as a manager with AC Milan, and with a squad bulging with European experience, PSG can quite rightly lay claim to the title of dark horses.
Conventional footballing wisdom would suggest that this might be a season or two too early but it’s not called a funny old game for nothing!
Worth a fiver at 20/1 I reckon.
Mark O’Toole
Bayern Munich to win, 12/1
There are a couple of things you need to win a Champions League; one is good players (pretty obvious) while the other is experience.
Chelsea, despite their craven ambition since Abramovich took over a decade ago, only lifted the Champions League trophy last season for the first time.
Ferguson spent years trying to figure out a way to adapt to the continental styles of play before they got over the line in 1999, while Arsenal, a perennial feature in the Champions League since Wenger’s arrival, also took years to be considered a force.
One side that does have the experience and the players is Bayern Munich at 12/1. They have added Martinez, Shaqiri and tormenter of Ireland, Mandzukic, to their squad and have a variety of ways they can hurt their opponents.
They have started well in the Bundesliga with 12 goals scored, two conceded and maximum points. Current coach Jupp Heynckes has won the Champions League with Real Madrid and has been around the block a few times, so they should do well.
Declan Whooley
Bayern Munich to win, Ronaldo top scorer, 66/1
Predicting the outright winner of the Champions League is a difficult task in itself, but to also predict the top scorer would be an outstanding achievement. This guess will either confirm my suspicions of greatness or prove that I know as much about football as Alan Shearer does about charisma.
I have taken a plump on two bridesmaids for my punt. Bayern can count themselves unlucky last year and will have revenge on the mind. They possess some outstanding talent and have probably the best goalkeeper in the world. Outside Barca and Madrid they offer good value for money and have quite a settled side. I just hope they have been practicing their penalties.
For my goalscorer I have turned my attention what I hope will be a happier Ronaldo over the coming season. He has finished second and third in this competition in the past two years and some cynics would suggest he would hold this achievement in higher regard than the Champions League itself.
Madrid should be in the final shake-up and as long as the Portuguese star doesn’t head to the MLS, China or the Middle East in search of more personal fortune, he looks likely to figure in the goals. Now I just need Messi to stop outdoing his rival…
Conor Heneghan
Real Madrid to win/Lionel Messi top scorer, 14/1
Jose Mourinho might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but nobody can argue with the fact that he’s a winner. While winning the La Liga title last season was all well and good, the Special One was brought to Madrid to win the Champions League and end the Spanish giants’ ten-year famine in the competition, Real being the only club who could feasibly use that term to describe such a short space of time without the precious trophy.
If they’re going to do it this year, they’re going to have it to do it the hard way, but Mourinho would have it no other way. As for Messi being top scorer, his record of 47 goals in the last four seasons speaks for itself and he gets to play Celtic twice during the group stages, a Celtic team who, no offence Hoops fans, conceded two to bloody St. Johnstone at the weekend.
Put the two flutters together and you’ve got yourself a nice little 14/1 shot.
Sean Nolan
Arsenal to win, 25/1
Make no mistake, Chelsea becoming the first team from London to win the big one wrankles at the Emirates. Arsenal had a shot in 2006 but were downed by Barca in that year’s final and since then the Catalan giants have been a constant headache for Arsene Wenger.
In two of the last three years Barcelona have dumped the Gunners out of the Champions League and while a woefully sloppy display against Milan saw them falter last term, I reckon this is a much stronger Arsenal team. Defensively they have tightened up considerably (a long overdue improvement) and the addition of Santi Cazorla adds a much needed touch of real class, even if they no longer have RVP to call on.
A relatively benign group (Schalke, Olympiacos, Montpellier) should be safely negotiated and if they can keep their big names fit and hope somebody else knocks out Barca, Arsene Wenger could crown his time in London with that much coveted trophy. At 25/1, they look to be the value bet to me.
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