STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Champions League 2024/25

A new era begins for the Champions League, with a new format, more fixtures, and a more challenging route to take Europe’s biggest title, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

How does the new format work? 🤔

In the past, the Champions League had 32 teams, split into eight groups of four. Starting from the 2024/25 season, 36 teams will take part in a new league phase, giving four more clubs a chance to compete. All 36 teams will be ranked together in one big league.In this new format, each team will play eight matches against eight different teams, instead of playing the same teams twice. Half of the matches will be at home, and the other half away.

The top eight teams will move straight to the round of 16. According to starsports.bet prices , those teams will be: Manchester City (1/9), Real Madrid (2/9), Arsenal (2/5), Bayern Munich (1/2), Barcelona (8/11), Liverpool (8/11), Atletico Madrid (11/8), and PSG (7/5).

Teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will play in a two-legged play-off to decide who joins them in the last 16. Teams finishing 25th or lower will be out of the competition, with no chance to join the UEFA Europa League. For the play-offs, teams finishing 9th to 16th will be seeded and play against teams finishing 17th to 24th, with the second match played at home. The winners of these play-offs will join the top eight in the round of 16.

However, the lower you finish the harder your draw is likely to be in the knockouts as the path to the final is set out according to rankings, much like a tennis or snooker competition. However, the lower you finish the harder your draw is likely to be in the knockouts as the path to the final is set out according to rankings, much like a tennis or snooker competition.

Overall Winner:

The market is naturally drawn to Manchester City and Real Madrid, given that they’ve won the last three editions between them and have some of Europe’s most fearsome talent. It’s hard to make a case against either of them either – there are off-field concerns for City but we’ve seen no sign of that affecting them in the Premier League so far and their squad depth is arguably the best in Europe, and Real Madrid’s sheer quality and survivor instincts will take them deep into the contest. City would make more appeal at the head of the market and I won’t put anyone off taking them at 5/2 – nor Madrid.

However, with the final taking place at the end of next May, this is the longest of long-term markets and with 24 sides going through from the extended group stage it’s worth looking for a couple of decent prices. It’s also worth noting that you can bet on the League stage formats too – which may well present a better investment.

On the outright front, no side was more dominant domestically last season than Inter Milan, securing a 20th league title with five games to spare by 19 points over

On the outright front, no side was more dominant domestically last season than Inter Milan, securing a 20th league title with five games to spare by 19 points over AC Milan, whilst they were probably unlucky to be knocked out at the last 16 by Atletico in the Round of 16, having dominated the opening leg and gone ahead on Spanish soil only to be pegged back and beaten on penalties.

The season before Inter had made Manchester City pull out all the stops in the final and much of that same squad – along with coach Simone Inzaghi – goes again. 12 of Inter’s squad for their final against Manchester City were in the squad for their unlucky 1-1 draw against Monza on Sunday and there’s obvious quality in the shape of Stefan de Vrij, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Federico Dimarco, Matteo Darmian, Lautaro Martínez, Denzel Dumfries, Francesco Acerbi, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Nicolò Barella, and Joaquín Correa.

The negative against Inter is their group stage fixtures – as they face Manchester City, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco and RB Leipzig in the league phase – but they are helped by facing Arsenal, Leipzig and Monaco at home and will be a short price for victories at Young Boys and Sparta Prague.

With 24 teams progressing it would be a shock if they weren’t able to land a place in the Last 16 at least – although they are more than capable of going head-to-head against the very best and 20/1 looks overpriced given their top-level experience and squad depth.

Similar comments apply to Atletico Madrid, who had a smart transfer window – replacing Joao Felix and Alvaro Morata with Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth freshens up the squad, Robin Le Normand is a fine defensive addition and Conor Gallagher has looked like a new man since arriving from Chelsea.

Atletico have made a solid start to La Liga – they sit second and are unbeaten in five – and will fancy taking plenty of points from a fixture list which includes home games against Leipzig, Lille and Slovan Bratislava, and trips to Salzburg and Sparta Prague. Their away record needs improvement, but they are notoriously tough to beat, have weapons going forward and plenty of experience as well.

Arsenal have improved a huge amount in the last two under Mikel Arteta, but they don’t make much appeal at 7/1 given their relative lack of squad depth – their first XI is a match for anyone, but other sides have better benches and their record on the road in Europe doesn’t match their domestic level either – they have just one win in their last five Champions League games on the road.

Liverpool may have a new manager in Arne Slot but he’s inherited one of the best squads in Europe which makes them of immediate interest. Their pre-international break performances were hugely encouraging although stiffer tests await and it remains to be seen how they respond to a shock defeat against Nottingham Forest at Anfield. They also have the second hardest league draw according to Opta, and they look like a team that is best watched right now.

Aston Villa have a fair draw but they hit the wall in the second half of last season and are making their first appearance for many years in the Champions League. PSG have the hardest group stage draw according to Opta so don’t make appeal at the prices for an outright run before a ball’s been kicked.

Bayern Munich are of interest in a few markets but the outright could take a leap of faith given that Vincent Kompany has it all to prove after Burnley’s Premier League relegation whilst they were deservedly outpointed by Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga last season.

2024-25 UEFA Champions League

Final: Munich Football Arena
Group Stages: 17th September 2024 – 25th January 2025
Knockout phase play-offs: 11/12 & 18/19 February 2025
Round of 16: 4/5 & 11/12 March 2025
Quarter-finals: 8/9 & 15/16 April 2025
Semi-finals: 29/30 April & 6/7 May 2025
Final: 31 May 2025

Past Winners:

2023-24: Real Madrid
2022-23: Manchester City
2021-22: Real Madrid
2020-21: Chelsea
2019-20: Bayern Munich
2018-19: Liverpool
2017-18: Real Madrid
2016-17: Real Madrid
2015-16: Real Madrid
2014-15: Barcelona

Past Golden Boot Winners:

2023-24: Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane (8 goals each)
2022-23: Erling Haaland (12 goals)
2021-22: Karim Benzema (15 goals)
2020-21: Erling Haaland (10 goals)
2019-20: Robert Lewandowski (15 goals)
2018-19: Lionel Messi (12 goals)
2017-18: Cristiano Ronaldo (15 goals)
2016-17: Cristiano Ronaldo (12 goals)
2015-16: Cristiano Ronaldo (16 goals)
2014-15: Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi (10 goals each)

League Phase:

With so many caveats to the outright winner – and only two places to add to all that – the group league phase is very interesting, and a couple of sides make strong appeal with three places and ¼ the odds-on offer from starsports.bet.

There’s going to be a fair amount taking place off-field for Manchester City this season but on the pitch, Pep’s men have made a pretty flying start to proceedings and they look worthy favourites to top the league stage. Their first fixture – against Inter – is their hardest but they’re strongly fancied for victory there and the rest of their fixtures don’t look too threatening bar a trip to Paris to face PSG. Slovan Bratislava (A), Sparta Prague (H), Sporting CP (A), Feyenoord (H), Juventus (A), Paris Saint-Germain (A), Club Brugge (H).

City topped last season’s scoring charts in the league phase – their 18 was one ahead of Atletico and two ahead of Real/Arsenal despite resting players – and – the 3/1 on them being the highest scorers makes appeal.

Their fixtures look slightly easier than those of Real Madrid on paper, and they’ve also made a quicker start with their attacking lineup looking more settled whilst Madrid fit Kylian Mbappe into their forward lineup.

You’d struggle to find a side that’s made a better start to their season than Barcelona, who have a 100% record in La Liga from their five games, and all the evidence suggests that the squad is responding well to Hansi Flick’s arrival.

With the help of Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, and Pedri Barca have put 17 goals past their opponents and whilst the loss of Dani Olmo for at least a month is a blow, they have a high-quality side that can clearly trouble any defense. Barcelona play Young Boys (H), Stade Brest (H), Red Star (A) and are likely to go off favourite for all eight of their fixtures, the hardest of them being – on paper – Monaco (A), Bayern Munich (H), Benfica (A), and Atalanta (H). 10/1 for them to win the group stage overall looks a fair each/way bet and so does the does the 8/1 they score the most goals in the league stage.

Question marks over how Vincent Kompany will cope with the biggest of stages are off-putting for Bayern Munich’s outright chances – at this moment – but they’re still a formidable attacking force (boasting Harry Kane, Jamai Musiala, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Michael Olise) who can put teams to the sword and their group stage fixtures are eye-catching.

Bayern have home games against Dinamo Zagreb, Benfica, Feyenoord, and Slovan Bratislava in their eight fixtures and whilst they have to travel to Barcelona and Aston Villa, they’ll fancy their chances of taking three points from Shakhtar Donetsk. The market’s likely to make them favourite for 15 points at least, and they face PSG at home whilst also having the advantage of European experience over Villa. They could well only start outsiders against Bayern Munich all being equal and they’ve made a flying start to the Bundesliga with three wins from three games. The 15/2 on them being the highest-scoring team in the league phase also makes appeal given how they took Girona to the sword (won 4-0) over the weekend.

Golden Boot:

Another market one can attack at 5/2 the field, with 4 each/way places. Manchester City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich all appeal as sides that will score a lot of goals during the Group phase and it’s worth looking to them.

11/4 about Erling Haaland is too good to turn down. Manchester City are odds on to make the semi-finals, and favourites to win the league phase and outright, and whilst he may be rested his scoring record cannot be argued with. Haaland’s nine goals so far means that he’s outscored every other Premier League club bar Manchester City so far. He has 45 goals in 45 Champions League games and has to be the man to beat assuming a clean run at things.

Robert Lewandowski has six goals in all competitions for Barcelona already this season, will take penalties and has the support of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Pedri and a returning Dani Olmo later in the campaign. His goalscoring record is again tried and tested and he’ll have no end of potential avenues to find the back of the net.

WILLIAM KEDJANYI

RECOMMENDED BETS

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