The draw for the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League group stage has taken place on Wednesday.
Defending champions Manchester City have been drawn against RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys. After receiving a favourable group, the Citizens remain 9/4 favourites with the bookmakers to retain their trophy.
Bayern Munich are the second favourites, some way back at 6/1. The German champions have had a busy summer with the signings of Harry Kane, Kim Min-jae, Konrad Laimer, Raphael Guerreiro and Joao Palhinha. Thomas Tuchel’s side have Manchester United, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray in their group.
Real Madrid are the bookmakers’ third favourites at 17/2. Carlo Ancelotti’s side have made a perfect start in La Liga this season with three wins from three, and with summer signing Jude Bellingham scoring in eaach of those games. The record winners of this competition will face Napoli, Sporting Braga and debutants Union Berlin in the group stage.
Arsenal are a very surprising 12/1 fourth favourites after they collapsed in the Premier League at the end of last season and have started this season unconvincingly. They only beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 in their domestic opener and were most recently held 2-2 at home by 10-man Fulham. The Gunners have Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven and RC Lens in their group.
The departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar this summer see Paris Saint-Germain’s odds back at 16/1. They have added more players to the first team though – Ousmane Dembele and Goncalo Ramos in attack, Manuel Ugarte in the middle of the park and Lucas Hernandez in defence, among a couple more players. They started their Ligue 1 season with two draws before beating Lens 3-1 this past weekend. They also have a tricky group that contains Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Newcastle United.
Surprising to us is that Barcelona are back at 16/1. The Catalan giants ran away with La Liga last season and have arguably only improved their squad with the arrivals of Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez. They have been handed a favourable group stage draw with FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Royal Antwerp.
The full list of favourites for the 2023-24 Champions League is as follows:
Manchester City 9/4
Bayern Munich 6/1
Real Madrid 17/2
Arsenal 12/1
Barcelona 16/1
Paris Saint-Germain 16/1
Manchester United 20/1
Napoli 28/1
Atletico Madrid 30/1
Newcastle United 33/1
Internazionale 33/1
AC Milan 40/1
Borussia Dortmund 50/1
RB Leipzig 66/1
Benfica 66/1
Sevilla 100/1
Lazio 100/1
FC Porto 125/1
Real Sociedad 125/1
Union Berlin 150/1
Feyenoord 150/1
RC Lens 150/1
Galatasaray 500/1
RB Salzburg 500/1
Celtic 500/1
PSV Eindhoven 500/1
Sporting Braga 500/1
Young Boys 750/1
FC Copenhagen 1000/1
Shakhtar Donetsk 1000/1
Red Star Belgrade 1000/1
