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Barcelona favorite over Manchester United for Champions League Title |
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Written by Stan Leung
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Monday, 28 January 2008
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 The Champions League is set to resume for European football and the first knockout round is about to begin. All the major clubs are still in the running as Real Madrid, Chelsea, Internazionale, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Arsenal and AC Milan all look to win the title as the best club in European football. Online betting giant BodogLife.com has Barcelona a 11 to 4 odds favorite to win the Champions League.
Barcelona looks to be the front winner as the Spanish club is just stacked with stars like Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and the Argentinean superstar Lionel Messi. Barcelona was very busy in last year’s transfer sweepstakes and they signed Arsenal Gunner Thierry Henry who is by far the best footballer in the early stages of the Champions League.
The English Premier League will be well represented to take home the title with four clubs making it to the next round. Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all have a great shot but it is Chelsea that has not lived up to expectations so far. Chelsea has one of the highest payrolls in Europe and the fans are demanding a Champions League title this year. Chelsea is listed at 13 to 2 odds at BodogLife.com.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who bought the team in 2003, has invested a lot of money to make Chelsea a European powerhouse. He has signed the best coach in the world in José Mourinho from Porto and he has signed major transfer players like Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko. The team is stacked with such players like Alex, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, John Obi Mikel, Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho, and John Terry who on any other team would be the top players for their club.
The most interesting match up is between the Liverpool and Inter Milan. In Champions League, Liverpool are world beaters even though they do not do so well domestically. They last won the Champions League in 2006 in Istanbul while Inter Milan is led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hernán Crespo. They also signed Portuguese midfielder Luís Figo, who is having a resurgence in the latter part of his career. Whoever comes out of this football match up will be beat up and battle worn for the next knock out stage.
The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final will take place on 21 May 2008 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to decide the winner.
BodogLife.com has posted European Football betting odds to win the Champions League 2007/2008:
Barcelona: 11/4
Manchester United: 5/1
Chelsea FC: 13/2
Real Madrid CF 9/1
Inter Milan: 9/1
Arsenal FC: 12/1
AC Milan: 12/1
Sevilla: 12/1
Liverpool FC: 14/1
Roma: 25/1
Lyon: 28/1
FC Porto: 33/1
Schalke 04: 40/1
Olympiacos: 66/1
Fenerbahçe SK: 80/1
Celtic FC: 125/1
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 27 January 2008 )
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