2023-24 Champions League Preview: Best futures bets
The draw for the 2023-24 Champions League became official last week and as always there are plenty of betting takeaways now that the dust has settled.
We’ll start with a couple of dark horses that offer value to win the whole tournament and then touch on a team worth playing to win its group.
Champions League future bets
Atletico Madrid (+2900, FanDuel)
It seems like there’s a new buzz around Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. Long known as a defend-and-counter team, Los Colchoneros have begun to play a more swashbuckling style of soccer of late and it’s working. Atleti have scored 10 goals in their first three league matches of 2023-24, continuing a trend we saw develop towards the end of last season.
We know we can trust Simeone to set up a defense, but if Atleti are able to keep up the fireworks going forward they’ll be a lot to deal with as we get deeper into the tournament.
Plus, you know that Simeone and Atleti will be licking their chops after getting drawn into a group with Lazio, Celtic and Feyenoord.
Atletico Madrid look a great price to bounce back after a disappointing showing in the 2022-23 Champions League.
RB Leipzig (+5000, DraftKings)
It’s never a good thing to be placed in the same group as Manchester City, but RB Leipzig should feel very confident about their chances to progress through Group B, which also features longshots Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys.
In addition to their decent draw, another reason to back Die Roten Bullen is their ability to get better as the season progresses. Leipzig is basically a football factory at this point and has one of the best talent pipelines in the world, so it makes sense that their youngsters get stronger as they get used to rigors of a professional season.
And while that means that Leipzig can endure some nervy moments in the early stages of a long season, the upside is that Leipzig should be hitting its stride as we get into the business end of this competition.
Real Sociedad to win Group D (+550, FanDuel)
It’s never a bad thing to back an elite defensive team in the Champions League and Real Sociedad were just that in 2022-23. Erreala finished fourth in La Liga behind Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atleti last season, but their defense was on par with the best teams in the entire continent. Sociedad conceded just 35 goals and 33.4 expected goals in 38 matches last season, putting them on par with teams like Manchester City, Napoli, Barcelona and Roma when it comes to limiting scoring chances.
But the real reason to back Sociedad at this price is because their group is wide open. Inter Milan is the odds-on favorite to top the table at -120, but that’s a pretty lukewarm price when you consider that an elite team like Arsenal, PSG, Manchester City or Bayern Munich would be a massive price if they were drawn into this quartet.
With a vulnerable favorite at the top and two beatable teams (RB Salzburg and Benfica) alongside them, Sociedad look a great bet in this market.
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