Manchester City have been rated as the favorites to win the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League title according to FiveThirty Eight. The rating system believes that the reigning Premier League champions have a 25 percent chance of winning the prestigious European club title.
In the last six seasons, Manchester City have been one of the most consistent clubs in the tournament. The club is one of the emerging European giants that is yet to win the UEFA Champions League title.
Owners of the club have invested heavily in the Premier League side especially in terms of bringing established players and promising players across the world to win the Champions League.
The investment has paid off heavily in the Premier League and other local competitions but Manchester City are yet to replicate such success in Europe. The closest they have come to winning the UEFA Champions League title was in the 2020-2021 season in which they went as far as playing in the final of the competition.
Recall that last season was the first time in the history of Manchester City that the club made it to the Champions League final. Unfortunately for coach Pep Guardiola and his men, they lost the final to Chelsea by a lone goal.
If patterns are anything to go by in football, Pep Guardiola is condemned to win this season’s UEFA Champions League title. This is so because coach Thomas Tuchel that led Chelsea to win the title last season, lost in the final to Bayern Munich during the 2019-2020 season while he was the coach of PSG.
Aside from that, if the form of Manchester City in the Premier League this season is anything to go by, coach Guardiola and his men are expected to go all the way in the Champions League.
Recall that the Premier League side topped their Champions League group that included star-studded Paris Saint Germain. They are expected to beat Sporting Lisbon home and away in the Champions League round of 16.
Ahead of the first leg of the round of 16 match, coach Pep Guardiola stressed that he and his team are not under pressure to win the Champions League this season.
“You can ask as many times as you want [about the pressure]. Does it bother me? No”, the Spanish coach said.
“We are here, we are in the Champions League. It is an honor, a pleasure to travel to Portugal to try to compete well and try to win the game. [What happens] on the grass will dictate our chances. In the end, it is [down to] the players on the pitch.
“I have been in the business as a manager – we are exposed and get punished by the criticism when you don’t get results. Not just me, all the managers. It is not absolutely a problem. Otherwise, you have to decide to do another job.
“To do better than last season is not easy. We are excited and happy to be in this competition at this stage. I know how important the Champions League is – we cannot deny it – but we take every Premier League game seriously and we saw how we behaved against Norwich was the best proof that we want to do it every single game, not just in the Champions League.
“We are on an incredible run. In Leipzig [where City lost 2-1 in their final Group A fixture], I would say we were not prepared mentally; we had already qualified before that game and we were not ready, but the rest, we were there all the time.
“This is what I want. We performed for ourselves; we compete for ourselves. What we are looking for is to behave every game like we have to. We have done it in the last years and I think there will not be an exception tomorrow.”
🗣 "As much as we want, as much we don't want, at the end it's the players on the pitch."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 15, 2022
Pep Guardiola on the same question about winning the Champions League every season pic.twitter.com/jfKm3ZZHLq
🗣 "We want to do it every single game, not just the Champions League."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 15, 2022
Pep Guardiola is happy to be in the Round of 16 with Man City again but says the team are treating every game the same pic.twitter.com/4pKKZzFMsG
Manchester City have a better chance to win the UEFA Champions League title
According to FiveThirty Eight rankings, Manchester City have a 25 percent chance of winning the UEFA Champions League title which is the highest in the ranking. The Premier League club will face Sporting Lisbon in the round of 16 later today, February 15. The kick-off time is 21:00.
German Bundesliga reigning champions, Bayern Munich that won the tournament in 2020 are said to be the second favorites to win this season UEFA Champions League. They have a 20 percent chance of winning the title. They will be in action against RB Salzburg later tonight. The kick-off time is 21:00.
Liverpool which won the tournament in 2019 have a 14 percent chance of winning the UEFA Champions League this season. They will be in action in the round of 16 against Inter Milan on February 16. The kick-off time is 21:00.
Ajax are rated 13 percent while Chelsea that are the reigning champions are rated 10 percent.
The most successful team in the tournament, Real Madrid are said to have a 4 percent chance of winning the tournament. Also, star-studded Paris Saint Germain have a four percent chance of winning the tournament.
As for Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, and Inter Milan, they have a two percent chance of winning the tournament respectively.
