Sport book action on the Champions League will be very exciting as the group stage gets underway in mid-September. Defending champion Barcelona will be one of the favorites at the Internet sportbook along with nine-time champ Real Madrid.
Sport book information tells us that Barcelona is in a group with Inter Milan so those matches should be entertaining as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o face their former teams. The other two teams in that group are Ukraine champion Dynamo Kyiv and Russian club Rubin Kazan.
Real Madrid will play AC Milan and those two will be favored in online sports betting at the Internet sportbook as they try and beat out Marseille and FC Zurich in their group.
Premier League power Manchester United should have little trouble in a group that includes Bundesliga winner Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow and Turkish champion Besiktas.
Chelsea is in a group with FC Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia.
Chelsea might be the biggest favorite at the Internet sportbook in a grouping as Porto is rebuilding while Atletico Madrid never seems to win close matches and APOEL Nicosia is out of their league.
Bayern Munich has won the Champions League four times and they are paired with two-time winner Juventus, French champion Bordeaux and Maccabi Haifa of Israel.
Liverpool is favored in sports betting at the sport book in their group with Lyon, Fiorentina and Hungary’s Debreceni.
Arsenal will be favored in online sports betting in their group at the Internet sportbook against AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, Greece’s Olympiakos and Standard Liege of Belgium. Arsenal should have little trouble in this grouping but at least Olympiakos might give them a game.
Sevilla is the sports betting favorite at the sport book in their group that includes Rangers, Stuttgart and Romanian champion Unirea. This is definitely the weakest of the groups and while Sevilla is the favorite at the sport book they are no guarantee.
The four Premier League powers really should have no trouble in the group stage. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal will be heavily favored at the sport book while Liverpool could at least have some competition in their group.
Champions League action has each team playing home-and-away against all three teams in their group with the top two teams in each group advancing to the knockout rounds which start in February. Champions League group matches at the sport book are scheduled for Sept. 15-16. The Champions League final is scheduled for next May in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.