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The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League campaign has reached its business end, and the Round of 16 is just around the corner. The tournament was in the headlines before a ball was even kicked this season, primarily thanks to its sweeping changes and new-look format. However, both the revamped League Phase and the newly formed Knockout Playoff Round are firmly in the rearview mirror, and the tournament begins to look more like itself at the Round of 16 stage.
The Story So Far
The biggest story so far has been the early elimination of the 2023 winners, Manchester City. There can be no question that Pep Guardiola’s formerly all-conquering Blues have struggled this season, primarily thanks to the season-ending injury to talismanic midfielder Rodri. They faltered through the League Phase and only made it to the knockout round following a second-half comeback against Club Brugge at the Etihad.
Their stay in this year’s tournament ended shortly thereafter at the hands of reigning champions Real Madrid. Los Blancos picked up a 3-2 victory in the first leg at the Etihad, thanks to Jude Bellingham’s injury-time winner. At the Bernabeu, they left no doubts, and a magical Kylian Mbappe hat trick secured a 3-1 win on the night and a resounding 6-3 aggregate win.
Now, however, all attention is firmly fixed on the Allianz Arena showpiece at the end of May. Here is what you should be looking out for on the road to Berlin.
Round of 16 – Bets and Predictions
The Round of 16 draw has thrown up plenty of fascinating ties. Aston Villa and Club Brugge will be battling it out to see which underdog makes it to the quarterfinals, while Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain will meet in a true clash of the titans. But there are two single-country ties – one of them being in the intra-city contest – that have caught our eye.
First up, we have Real Madrid clashing with Atletico Madrid in a battle for the Spanish capital. This season, Diego Simeone’s Los Rojiblancos are looking more like the team of the mid-2010s that disrupted the establishment both at home and on the continent. They currently sit one point off the top of La Liga and have scored crucial last-minute winners to beat both Barcelona and PSG already this season.
However, we can only see their meeting with their cross-city nemesis ending one way: a Real Madrid victory. And a positive for punters is that the sports betting providers are offering somewhat generous odds on Los Blancos getting the job done. A top online crypto sports betting site currently has Carlo Ancelotti’s men priced as a 1.80 favourite to win the first leg against Atleti at home in the Bernabeu.
That looks very generous, considering their record against their rivals in European competition. Between 2014 and 2017, the two clubs met in four straight seasons in the Champions League. Real won all of them, including two finals. Expect them to repeat history eight years from their most recent continental encounter.
Over in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich will face off in a battle for German bragging rights. Last season, Die Werkself managed to win the Bundesliga for the first time in their history, and while the Bavarians look set to reclaim their crown this term, Leverkusen have certainly looked the better of the two teams when they have met this season.
The two teams have already squared off three times domestically, with Xabi Alonso’s side winning in the DFB Pokal and both Bundesliga games ending in a draw. Despite that, it was Leverkusen who were dominant in both those league clashes, and we can see them winning across two legs and ending Bayern’s hopes of competing in the final in their Allianz Arena home. Die Schwarzroten are a mighty 4.33 underdog to secure the victory in the first leg, and that price certainly looks tantalising, but a safer tip might be to back them with a one-goal handicap at odds of 2.10.
Outright Bets
There are plenty of interesting outright bets that deserve attention as the competition reaches the latter stages. The first of those is Liverpool lifting the trophy at odds of 11/2.
The Reds have been in blistering form so far this season. They’re a whopping 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League, and their huge deficit to the chasing pack means that they may well be able to rest key players such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
That will allow them to be fresh for continental competition, and if they manage to beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16, they will be huge favourites to beat Aston Villa or Club Brugge to secure their spot in the semifinals. From there, Munich is well within sight.
It’s also hard to ignore Real Madrid. They are the current 17/4 favourites to win the trophy for a record-extending 16th time this season. They claimed their 15th crown last term with a 2-0 victory against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, and they didn’t rest on their laurels as they brought in arguably the best player on the planet in the form of Kylian Mbappe. They will be an ominous threat once more, and it would take a brave punter to bet against them.
