Champions League 2019: football betting experts pick the winner

With the Champions League knockout stages about to begin, Racing Post Sport football experts - including Didi Hamann, who lifted the trophy with Liverpool on that famous night in Istanbul in 2005 - pick their best bet for European glory in 2019.

Manchester United

Didi Hamann

This year’s Champions League looks absolutely wide open with no one outstanding team and a clutch of sides who could well go all the way.

You could make a case for about probably nine or ten of them, one of whom has to be Manchester United.

To do well in the Champions League you have to time everything right for the spring. What happened before is pretty much meaningless and that’s certainly being proved by United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They are virtually a new team from the wreckage left by Jose Mourinho.

Man United take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 at the perfect time with Neymar out, and on current form they fear no one.

Atletico Madrid

Steve Davies

There isn’t one outstanding side in this year’s Champions League – not truly outstanding anyway.

The firepower possessed by Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool naturally makes them a trio to be wary of.

At the prices, though, preference is for Atletico, a team who like to make progress the other way, by stopping sides from scoring rather than racking up cricket scores of their own.

Built over several years into a major European force by Diego Simeone, they continue to be underrated despite constantly going deep.

Alvaro Morata has so much still to offer and will be happier in Madrid than he was at Chelsea, Antoine Griezmann and Thomas Lemar are class acts, that midfield is as good as anyone's and defensively their record speaks for itself.

They’ve got a brute of a last-16 draw against Juventus but they can see off the Italian champions.

Barcelona

Liam Flin

Barcelona's draw away to Inter on matchday four not only saw them become the first team to book a place in this year's last 16 but it made it 15 successive seasons in the Champions League knockout stage for the Catalan club.

There is excellent balance all over the pitch for Ernesto Valverde's men who have the old guard of Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets complemented by some of the most exciting youngsters on the continent in Malcom and Ousmane Dembele.

They are in the Copa del Rey semi-finals and are at the summit of La Liga and that winning mentality can only enhance their chances on the toughest stage of the Champions League.

Then of course there's Messi who not only has six goals in the competition this term but is also making the players around him better.

Barca have been a side in transition for several seasons but they appear to have dealt with the loss of key players and it could be time for the trophy to return to the Camp Nou.

Manchester City

Dan Childs

Pep Guardiola's Man City side have learned a lot over the last two years of Champions League competition and look ready to go all the way.

Kevin De Bruyne, their best player, has been injured for most of the season yet they are still in the hunt for four trophies.

However, the Belgian is getting back to his best and could be instrumental in deliver City's first European trophy since 1970.

Further down the betting Atletico Madrid look overpriced. They are competitive in La Liga and are difficult to beat over two legs.

Manchester City

Kevin Pullein

Manchester City are probably the best team in, and the most likely winners of, the Champions League.

They won their group and have been rewarded with one of the less difficult round-of-16 draws. They could have faced Atletico Madrid or Roma but instead play Schalke, who this season are in the bottom half of the Bundesliga. So they have a strong chance of reaching the quarter-finals – and then, who knows?

This season even more than others, though, there seem to be several teams with not much difference in ability between them. With a favourable roll of the ball it is easy to see any of half a dozen teams or more going all the way.

When there are many good teams, paradoxically, the winner can be decided by a stroke of good fortune. Which of them does lift the trophy can depend heavily on who gets lucky with subsequent draws, refereeing decisions or injuries.

Juventus

James Milton

Manchester City couldn't have asked for a better last-16 draw but that is well and truly factored into their price and Juventus look better value at this stage.

Outstanding in Serie A, winning 20 and drawing three of their 23 league games this season, they also have some serious pedigree in the Champions League.

They have reached the final twice in the past four years, suffering agonising knockout defeats to Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the other two seasons.

And this term, of course, they are boosted by the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo, whose record in the later rounds of the competition is sensational.

Ronaldo's 121 Champions League goals include 60 in the knockout stages – in contrast, 66 of Lionel Messi's 106 came in group games – and he can help Juve clear their first hurdle by beating injury-hit Atletico Madrid in the last 16.

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