Champions League Betting Preview

The Champions League returns this week following a two month winter break, and bookmakers have Spanish giants Barcelona as the clear favourite in the betting, with best odds 4/1 with Blue Square. Barcelona are strongly fancied to progress to the next round with only Celtic standing in their way. Despite a strong home record, the Scottish Champions are the 150/1 rank outsiders with Betfred.

All four English sides are given reasonable chances by the bookmakers, with Man Utd at 11/2, Chelsea at 7/1. Arsenal at 11/1 and last season's finalists Liverpool available at 16/1. Despite a dismal spell in the Premier League, that still seems a big price for a side with such a good recent record in this competition. The long odds for Liverpool are probably in respect to their difficult tie against Italian Champions Inter Milan who have been on fire in all competitions this season.

Many online bookmakers have a number of Champions league betting special markets that will make plenty of appeal to some punters. In the "Furthest English team to progress market" Stan James have Man Utd and Chelsea both at 11/5, Arsenal at 3/1 and Liverpool at 4/1. You can also get 9/2 on an all English final. The strong English contingent remaining in the Champions League is clear in the "winning nationality market" where England are best odds 6/4 favourites with Stan James, Spain 7/4 with Sky Bet and the Italians 4/1 with VC Bet.

Click here for a full list of free bets