Phwoar! What a draw for the Champions League last-sixteen! It was a mixed draw for the Premier League teams and the bookies have priced up the odds for the quartet of English sides to ALL qualify for the next stage. The prices might surprise you.
Manchester City have enjoyed arguably the easiest draw of the lot as Pep Guardiola's men come up against Schalke, who are currently languishing down in the bottom half of their domestic Bundesliga table. The Citizens are 1/14 to qualify for the quarter-finals for only the third time their history. Could this be the year they finally win the tournament under Guardiola? City are 3/1 favourites to win the tournament outright, according to the latest Champions League Odds.
Things look a lot trickier for the other Manchester club in the tournament though as United have been drawn to face Paris St-Germain and the Red Devils are 5/2 to qualify. Frankly, we are surprised that those odds aren't considerably bigger considering the woeful football they have been producing under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho this season. The prospect of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe lining up against Ashley Young and Phil Jones should terrify United fans.
Much can change between now and the first leg at Old Trafford on Tuesday 12th February of course and PSG are renowned for their unparalleled ability to 'bottle it' in the big games in Europe. The Ligue 1 champions dominate domestically but they find ways of shooting themselves in the face year-on-year in the Champions League.
Liverpool have also been handed a tricky assignment in the last-sixteen as they have been drawn to face Bayern Munich, although Jurgen Klopp's men are as short as 4/5 to qualify. Klopp has only ever won nine of his 29 matches as a manager against Bayern, who have reached the quarter-finals during each of the previous seven Champions League campaigns.
This is a far from vintage Bayern Munich team though as they are nine points adrift of Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, who have been drawn to face Tottenham in the last-sixteen.
Dortmund have been one of the most exciting teams in Europe to watch this season, scoring 56 goals in 23 games in all competitions, and their young English starlet, Jadon Sancho, has been grabbing headlines on a weekly basis. It promises to be a great encounter against Spurs and the bookmakers are struggling to separate the pair, with Tottenham currently 5/6 to qualify. Mauricio Pochettino's men do have previous against Dortmund as they beat the German outfit 3-1 at home and 2-1 away during the group stages of last season's Champions League campaign.
So, what price for all four English clubs to qualify for the Champions League quarter finals?
An accumulator of Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham ALL to qualify returns a relatively skinny 11/1. That is a very short price on the basis of what we have seen this season, particularly from United, but roll on February and the start of the last-sixteen action!
