Who are the favorites for supercomputer calculations at UCL?
September 18, 20242 Mins Read
The UEFA Champions League 2024-25 season starts tonight (Tuesday) with the participation of 36 teams for the first time. There is no group stage in this season. Initially, each team will play eight matches. After that, the knockout stage will begin. On the opening day today, Liverpool-AC Milan face each other, in addition, teams like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Aston Villa are entering the field.

Who are the favorites at UCL?

Not only has the number of teams increased in this year's tournament, the entire format has also been radically changed. The calculation of which has many complications. Eight teams will play 8 matches each in the league stage. At the end of this phase, the top eight teams will go to the knockouts. The teams from ninth to 24th in the table will then play a two-legged play-off for the remaining eight places in the last sixteen. And the clubs ranked 25 to 36 will be directly excluded from all European football competitions. The top performing teams in the league stage will be favored in the knock out draw.

Out of 8 matches in the first leg, four home matches and four away matches. Despite the complicated calculations this time around, it might not be difficult to pick a favorite team judging by the performance. Opta, a football statistical organization, has come up with such a prediction. Opter Supercomputer said that which team is ahead to win the title after analyzing various aspects. Where they have kept Manchester City ahead in the list of favourites.

The list of favorites in the supercomputer poll
has Europe's top teams leading the charge overall. Pep Guardiola's Man City are more likely in Opta's predictions despite increasing team numbers and changing rules. According to them, City has a 25.3 percent chance of becoming champions and a 39.9 percent chance of playing in the final. In the previous season, the English Premier League club was eliminated from the quarter-finals in a penalty shoot-out. Earlier, they won the title by defeating Inter Milan in the 2023 season.

Real Madrid is the thorn in the neck of Man City and number two in the list of favourites. They reached the semi-finals for the fourth consecutive season, seeing off Guardiola's side last season. Supercomputer sees Carlo Ancelotti's side with a 31.6 per cent chance of reaching this year's UCL final and an 18.2 per cent chance of winning the title.

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2022-23 season runners-up Inter Milan is third in the list of favourites. The Italian club has a 21.2 percent chance of reaching the final and a 10.9 percent chance of winning the championship, according to Opter. Apart from this, they have listed Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Barcelona, ​​Liverpool, Bayern Munich, PSG and RB Leipzig as their favourites.