Who are the favorites to win the UEFA Champions League 2014-15?

by Guilherme Neto

Many insist in claiming that the Champions League is by far the toughest competition to win on a club-level. A curious fact that probably strengthens this theory is that ever since it started with its new format back in 1992, there’s yet to be a back-to-back champion…

Last season, Real Madrid won the Champions League against Atletico in an emphatic way, but only after scoring a dramatic equalizer when we were already in added time in Lisbon. The Merengues clinched their 10th Champions League title in the club’s history, establishing themselves even by a largest margin as the most successful football club in Europe.

Going into this new season, we necessarily have the chronic candidates on the favorites’ front line, but we shouldn’t also underestimate one or two underdogs who might be capable of going all the way to glory.

#1: Real Madrid

Real Madrid comes up in many sports bookmaker sites as the top favorite. They’ve won it last year as we just pointed out and they signed a few important new players like Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), James Rodríguez (AS Monaco) and Keylor Navas. On the other hand, they also saw a couple important players going the opposite way, with Xabi Alonso and Angel di María being the prime cases.

#2: Bayern Munich

The German powerhouse has been dominating the football scene domestically in the last years and with Pep Guardiola on the helm for a second straight season, they will surely have the UEFA Champions League title in their horizon. Bayern Munich are coming into this new year stronger than ever in the attack, especially after having signed their rivals’ Borussia Dortmund main forward, Robert Lewandowski. It’s beyond any doubts one of the most experienced sides in this competition and if there’s something they don’t lack in their ranks, that’s surely the talent to beat any team who is sent in their way.

#3: Barcelona

The Blaugranas will be trying to bounce back from a quite disappointing season. They have a new coach calling the shots now, as Luis Enrique became the first team manager just a few months ago. Barcelona signed one of the most-wanted players in this transfer window, after agreeing to pay Liverpool a sum over 90 million euros in order to bring Luis Suárez to Spain. With Messi and Neymar ready to team up with the Uruguayan star upfront, Barça surely has enough firepower in the attack to bring down any defense.

#4: Chelsea

José Mourinho must be anxious to see his team embarking in this new UEFA Champions League edition and he probably got good reasons for that. Chelsea was one of the most active clubs in this summer’s transfer window, bringing in Atletico Madrid‘s former players Filipe Luis and Diego Costa, as well as Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas. They kept their most important players from last season, so they are definitely one of the strongest sides with serious chances of lifting the trophy next May.

#5: Manchester City

Ever since Manchester City started becoming a regular in the Champions League, there seems to always have been something holding them back. It’s also true they haven’t been very fortunate with the groups they are drawn into (and this year was no exception), but for one reason or another, we always get the feeling that this team has potential to got a lot further in the competition than they have been. Nevertheless, they are a force to be reckoned and we can’t really say it would be a surprise if we see them reaching the Berlin final in May of 2015.

Sources: sbnation.com / ronaldo7.net