Barcelona is favourite to win Champions League this year, according to Opta

The round of 16 of Champions League has ended, with mostly expected results (the top teams like Barcelona, Arsenal or Inter eliminated the weaker ones) except for two exciting knockout between PSG vs. Liverpool and Real Madrid vs. Atlético de Madrid.

In fact, before facing PSG, Liverpool was favourite for the title. However, their elimination in penalties means that now Barcelona has grown as the most likely candidate to win the prestigious European cup this year.. followed very closely by Liverpool's executioner PSG.

That's according to British analyst Opta, which is after thousands of simulations, rank the last remaining Champions League teams by their chances of winning the cup.

• Barcelona: 20.4%


• PSG: 19.3%


• Arsenal: 16.8%


• Inter: 16.4%


• Real Madrid: 13.6%


• Bayern Munich: 9.7%


• Aston Villa: 2.8%


• Borussia Dortmund: 1%

Odds depend greatly on the quarter-finals rivals...

Going deeper, Barcelona and PSG have a 80% and 72.2% chances of reaching semi-finals, taking into consideration that they will face weaker rivals (Aston Villa, eighth in Premie League, faces Paris, and Borussia Dortmund, 10th in Bundesliga, faces Barcelona).

The other four have much more tougher and even knockouts: Arsenal faces Real Madrid, with Opta giving the Mikel Arteta side, second in Premier League, 52.8% chances of winning. Meanwhile, Serie A leader (by a very small margin) Inter is given 57.3 chances of winning Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich (42.7%).

We will not know for sure until April 14-15, when the second legs are played. In the meantime, club teams will rest and many footballers will join their national squads for the first international break of 2025.