My Champions League thoughts, part 1:2

My Champions League thoughts, part 1:2

The Champions League draw for this season, 2009-2010, is done and now we can just wait for the group stage to begin. Champions League is the greatest tournament for clubs in the world and all the matches are prestigious. That’s even a reason why I like to bet on that tournament. Even though many people thinks that it’s hard to find value-bets in Champions League I have another opinion.

Since all the matches means so much for all the clubs, both trough in a prestigious and economic way, my believes is that he who knows much about the teams quality and capacity has god chances to win in the length.

In this text I will give you my potential winners of CL 2009 / 2010 and write my thoughts and analyzes about some other top teams. I have chosen to split the text in two parts. In this part, 1 / 2, I will give you all the odds on the teams that have qualified to the tournament and give you my picks. And in next part I will give you my thoughts about some of the favourites that I don’t think will go all the way, and why I think so.

Here are all the odds (The odds are picked from Bwin-Champions League):

Real Madrid    4.25

FC Barcelona    5.00

FC Chelsea    7.00

Manchester United    9.00

FC Arsenal    9.00

Inter Milan    13.00

FC Liverpool    13.00

Juventus    21.00

AC Milan    21.00

Bayern München    23.00

Olympique Lyon    41.00

FC Sevilla    41.00

VfL Wolfsburg    41.00

Atletico Madrid    51.00

VfB Stuttgart    81.00

FC Porto    126.00

Olympiakos Pireus    151.00

Olympique de Marseille    151.00

Fiorentina    151.00

AZ Alkmaar    151.00

FC Rubin Kazan    251.00

CSKA Moskva    251.00

Besiktas    251.00

FC Dynamo Kiev    251.00

Girondins de Bordeaux    251.00

Glasgow Rangers    500.00

FC Zürich    500.00

Standard Liege    500.00

Maccabi Haifa    750.00

Debreceni    1000.00

Unirea Urziceni    1000.00

APOEL    1000.00

My Winners 1)

Chelsea to win Champions League @ 7.00

Premier League has been the strongest league in Europe for the last couples of years and they who don’t believe me can just look at the stats from Champions League.

Both last year and the year before that three out of four teams in Champions League’s semi-finals came from Premier League. Last year it was Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea and 2007 / 2008 it was Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

2007 / 2008 even had two English teams in the final when Manchester United beat Chelsea after penalties. And don’t forget that it was just seconds ago that they went to the finals even last year. Barcelona equalized against Chelsea in the last seconds of the return and “should” have been knocked out in the semis already if there where any justice in football.

So even thought some star players have left Premier League this season and Spanish La Liga have signed lots of world class players I still think that Premier League is the best league overall.

Top 2 teams in Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid, are stronger this year then the last years. But the gap after those two teams is too big to compare with Premier League of being the best league in Europe (and the world).

I bet Chelsea as my primary winner because I find a value on that bet. They pay 7 times the bet and if you take a look on their last performances in Champions League they really deserve to win this year. Last year (2008 / 2009) they where knocked out at the second in the semi finals last year. The year before that (2007 / 2008) they ended second after that John Terry missed the last penalty (and then Anelka) against Manchester United in the finals. Even the year before that (2006 / 2007) they reached the semi finals and got knocked out against Liverpool after penalties again.

Chelsea still has their strong team from the last years and I think they have the strongest team in Premier League this season. I think the players are thirsty for a European title and think they have great chances to win this year.

My Winners 2)

Real Madrid to win Champions League @ 4.75

If I let myself pick two possible winners of Premier League 2009 / 2010 I just can’t choose to not pick Real Madrid as one of those.

Real Madrid have won the European cup (not only Champions League but totally) more times then any other opponent and have a winning tradition.

But it was long time ago that they managed to win Champions League now and that must be one of the reasons that the club / president have invested unreal sums of money on new players this year.

With new players like Christiano Rolando, Karim Benzema and Kaka in the squad forward and Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso to balance the team defensive this is one of the best club teams in Europe for the last decades. If only manager Manuel Pellegrini can keep a god atmosphere in the dressing room I think that Real Madrid will challenge for the title in May.

/Amrish

Continuities with part 2:2 just below.