Axel Allag, Media365, published on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 8:31 a.m.
The new Champions League format begins this Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. As before every major tournament, Opta's supercomputer has revealed its favorites for the supreme title.
The new Champions League starts this Tuesday. The new 36-team format in the form of a championship is already arousing a lot of curiosity and it is therefore with impatience that the matches will be scrutinized, including Juventus Turin-PSV Eindhoven and Young Boys-Aston Villa to start, at 6:45 p.m. Before the start of the queen of European competitions, the Opta supercomputer made its predictions and, without too much surprise, it placed two teams a notch above the others with regard to a possible coronation on May 31 on the pitch of the Allianz Arena in Munich. After 10,000 result simulations, Manchester City was the favorite, with a 25.3% probability of lifting the second Champions League in its history following the one obtained in 2023 against Inter Milan. An Italian team that the Citizens will host on Wednesday for a real shock at the Etihad Stadium (9 p.m.).
PSG far behind, with the toughest schedule
Behind, with 15 C1s under their belt and boosted by the inclusion of Kylian Mbappé in their squad, we find Real Madrid, who have an 18.2% chance of being crowned, and therefore of gleaning a 16th Champions League in their history. This Tuesday evening, the C1 campaign will begin with the reception of Stuttgart at the Santiago-Bernabeu for Carlo Ancelotti's players, who himself considered that they had a “better team” than last season. Finalist of the competition in 2023 and defending champion in Serie A, Inter Milan have a 10.9% chance of being crowned, which is better than Arsenal (6.3%), Bayer Leverkusen (5.4%), FC Barcelona (5.2%), Liverpool (4.2%) or Bayern Munich (4.1%).
As for the French clubs, PSG is of course the representative most likely to perform in the competition, but the clashes on the program against Arsenal (away), Atlético de Madrid (at the Parc), Bayern Munich (away) and Manchester City (at the Parc) make the capital club's calendar the toughest in the competition according to Opta's supercomputer (92.4 points). With only a 4.1% chance of winning the competition, Paris is therefore starting from very far behind and would be well advised not to trip up on Wednesday evening against Girona at the Parc des Princes (9 p.m.) to stay in line for a top 8 that would allow them to avoid play-offs that will be contested between the clubs positioned between 9th and 24th position. Still on the French club side, optimism is not the order of the day for LOSC or AS Monaco, who are probably paying for their lack of experience and have a total of 0.1% and 0.5% chance of winning respectively. Brest, who will participate in the C1 for the first time in their history and will launch their European adventure against Sturm Graz on Thursday evening in Guingamp (9 p.m.), have a 0% chance of winning this new Champions League title.
