The Champions League and the Europa League have been in the focus of the entire football fanbase following the Coronavirus outbreak.
Many were wondering what will happen with two of the most prominent football competitions in Europe. The fans were debating about the possible format of the finishing stages, whether it would reach its end at all, and about all sorts of other, let's technical stuff.
But in the end, they would all come down to one question – who is going to lift the trophy?
Well, according to the bookies, the No.1 favorite for taking the Champions League title is Manchester City. The Citizens were the biggest right from the start, and they never moved from that place.
The odds bookies gave on their success are currently at 3/1, Bayern Munich is now second with 13/2, Paris Saint Germain 5/1, and Barcelona 7/1, with Atletico Madrid sitting at 10/1. If you follow this link, you can find lots of stuff offered by new online UK bookmakers for 2020 season.
The Citizens were focused only on this competition even before all the turbulences caused by their ban from Europe and the COVID-19 chaos. Simply, this was Pep Guardiola's obsession, and since the campaign started, it was obvious that the Spaniard aims to attack the UCL trophy before the Premiership title. With the development of the situation in the EPL and Liverpool's domination, City slowly began moving all of its resources to the Champions League, and when UEFA's ban appeared, they thought about nothing else but conquering the continent.
Meanwhile, Bayern was in a completely different situation. At the start of the year, the German powerhouse had numerous problems inside the club. Niko Kovac wasn't getting along with the players, and at one point, it seemed that the season would go down the drain. But, as soon as he left Allianz Arena and Hansi Flick jumped in, things changed.
The young German coach brought back the old attacking style to the table and removed Kovac's philosophy, which didn't suit Bayern's mentality. And the impact was obvious right away. The German champs have the top candidate for winning the UCL top goalscoring award.
Robert Lewandowski is 1/14 to take the honors, and the first one after the Polish international is Lionel Messi with 33/1. Raheem Sterling is 35/1, Serge Gnabry 40/1, Kylian Mbappe 50/1, while one of the best scorers ever, Cristiano Ronaldo, sits at 150/1.
Now, about the Europa League, the situation there is pretty exciting. We have several teams aiming at the trophy, and the automatic ticket to the Champions League.
Two of the top ones are from England – Manchester United and Wolverhampton. The Red Devils are 3/1 to win the competition, while Wolves sit second with 5/1, slightly ahead of Inter Milan, 6/1. Bayer Leverkusen is 13/2, the same as Sevilla, with Shakhtar Donetsk sitting at 14/1.
It is no wonder to see United and Wolves at the top of the list. English teams value the Europa League a lot, as some of them find it much easier to reach the Champions League there than through the domestic competition. We already saw the Red Devils and Chelsea doing that in the past.
Both United and Wolves are not certain to finish among the first five in the EPL, and they need to play with 100% here. We need to underline that Wolves might be chasing this trophy because of the ambitions to bring back the old glory to this side, who was one of the best in the world during the 1950s. Their owners have an agenda to make the club one of the best in England and to make them a powerhouse as before.
Inter meanwhile, is chasing the Serie A title and has that as a priority. Nerazzurri would like to lift the trophy, but are keener to stop Juventus and its domination in Italy.
Bayer is a solid team, but they lack experience at these stages, and vas majority of experts don't believe in their consistency, predicting that the Germans might choke when needed the most.
Meanwhile, many are suggesting that Sevilla might be a dark horse to take the silverware. The Spanish team is the most successful in the history of this competition, and they know how to behave when things get rough.
