All posts by h716a5.icu

The UEFA Champions League is one of the most popular sports events on the planet. In the league, 32 teams get to compete for the Champions League title. The tournament was introduced in 1955, and its first name was the Champion Club’s Cup.

In 1992, the tournament’s name was changed to the current one; the UEFA Champions League. This change allowed multiple teams to participate. Currently, the league begins with the qualifiers, which is the UEFA Super Cup, where all the teams within the UEFA league compete to be a part of the 32 qualified teams. After the qualifiers, the 32 enter the group stage of the tournament.

That means there are lots of fixtures that some teams have to play if they manage to progress in this cup. A lot of opportunities to win some money if you back the right team! View our sportsbetting tips for Champions League here.

The Champions Qualifying League Set-Up

The Champions League begins in June every year. Twenty-six teams always pre-qualify for the tournament. The actual tournament is then organised into the following stages;

The preliminary round Three qualifying rounds Playoff round

After these three stages, six more teams join the 26 to make them 32 for the main league to begin.

How the 32 Team-Tournament is Organised

The 32 teams that survive the qualifier rounds get to play in the main tournament. They are usually subdivided into eight groups. The setup of the tournament has expanded over time. While initially, the countries were only allowed to enter their champion into the league, now they can have up to four teams.

The winners of the eight group matches and the runners up enter the last 16. This is known as the knockout phase of the tournament. The knockout stage is what leads to the final tournament, where the winner of the cup is declared and crowned.

Teams that Have Won the Tournament in the Past

It is good to understand the history that each of the teams which participate in the league has. Twenty-two clubs have won the tournament since its inception. Some clubs have won the league more than once. The team that has recorded the highest number of wins is Real Madrid, with 13 total wins.

The 2019 league final was between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, and Liverpool won. England, Italy, and Spain have produced the highest number of wins for the tournament since it started.

 The UEFA Leagues Favourites for this Year

This year’s tournament is the 66th season of the tournament since its inception. It is also the 29th season of the tournament since it was renamed to the UEFA Champions League. The timetable for this year’s league was affected by the coronavirus outbreak, which is why the qualifiers started later than they usually do.

Here are some of the methods that the UEFA League uses to break ties when they occur between the Champions League teams, and also to determine the winner;

The team with the higher number of points in the group matches always gets a better rank. The team with the higher goal difference in the group matches gets a better rank than the one with fewer goals. Scoring goals away from home earns a team more points than when they score at home. Teams receive disciplinary points during matches. Usually, a yellow card earns a team one point while a red card leads to three points. Odds and Predictions for the 2020-21 Tournament

The Champions League is just getting going, with last season’s final taking place less than a week ago.

Here are the top contenders for the Cup;

Bayern Munich -The team has given consistently excellent results throughout the season. They beat Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate over the 2 legs and are in amazing form having won this year’s trophy. Manchester City- Most football analysts and betting experts say that Manchester City is the most likely team to win this years Champions League, but then they say that every year. They have won the Premier League for two out of the last three consecutive years, meaning that Pep is doing an amazing job. PSG-Paris St. Germain- The team has been dominating the French tournament for the past five years. Betting companies are giving them 5/1 odds to win their maiden UEFA Champions League Cup, having made the final this year. Conclusion

The UEFA Champions League is one of the biggest sporting events on the planet, with millions of pounds to be won. These are just a few pointers to how the UEFA Champions League is structured. Odds and predictions help you bet on the team that’s likely to win the Champion Club’s Cup.

West Bromwich Albion have already made some serious moves during this transfer window and now a new striker appears set to join Slaven Bilic’s ranks…

What’s the word?

According to Football Insider, the Baggies are in ‘advanced talks’ to sign relegated Watford star Troy Deeney and are now firmly ahead of Premier League rivals Spurs in the race for his signature.

They claim the Hornets are resigned to the fact that the 32-year-old is unlikely to stay at Vicarage Road, though it remains to be seen what sort of deal this could be.

Deeney is from nearby Birmingham and picked up a whopping £70k-per-week in the top-flight last season. Transfermarkt value the striker at just £5.85m.

Proven nuisance

It’s been widely reported that Bilic wants two strikers in before next month’s deadline, so adding Deeney alongside fellow mooted target Karlan Grant could make sense.

The veteran talisman is tried and tested in the Premier League having been at Watford for over a decade now. He has been their captain since 2014, so the Baggies would be some vital leadership qualities too.

Deeney has featured in 163 top-flight games, providing 47 goals and 21 assists, per Transfermarkt.

During their relegation campaign, the Englishman still hit double figures and averaged a whopping 7.3 aerials won, 1.7 shots and 1.1 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

Many at the Hawthorns will know the striker well as he’s regularly haunted Albion, losing just one of six matches in terms of head-to-head. Back in 2017, he ripped apart Tony Pulis’ side with a goal and an assist, leaving Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley in the mud with no higher than a 6.5 rating.

Earlier this season, his old boss Nigel Pearson described Deeney as a “handful to play against” whilst rival manager Dean Smith believes he “epitomises the character and application to make it at the top.”

There’s still plenty left in the tank and the Baggies must not turn their nose up at this signing, whether that be a temporary or a permanent move.

AND in other news, West Brom should clinch PL “jewel” amid Krovinovic uncertanity…

Leeds United had the best defensive record in the Championship last season, but after two games in the Premier League, they have the joint-second worst record in the division.

Indeed, Marcelo Bielsa has watched on as his side have conceded seven goals in their opening two games, including three penalties, and if these sort of defensive lapses continue, they will be punished week after week.

The Whites bookmarked their defence as an area that needed strengthening this summer after Ben White returned to Brighton, and they made that happen with the signing of Germany international Robin Koch.

Watch Leeds United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

However, Koch’s first two games haven’t quite gone to plan, he’s played every minute for Leeds so far, and he’s been nothing short of woeful, giving away a penalty in each game he has played, while picking up an average WhoScored rating of just 6.38.

Koch may still end up being a quality player, after all, he has been picked for the German national team by Joachim Low, but something seemingly needs to change for him to realise his full potential.

Perhaps a bit of meaningful competition would push Koch to that next level, and Leeds landing €25m-rated (£23m) Josko Gvardiol could provide that.

The Whites have already had a €22m (£20m) bid knocked back, but the interest is quite clearly there and they should splash the cash to make it happen.

At the moment the number one understudy below Liam Cooper and Koch is Pascal Struijk, and while the youngster looks like a good prospect, he only has a handful of senior appearances to his name, and while the same could be said for Gvardiol, the pricetag will make him seem like a real competitor for a starting spot.

Away from the fact that this signing could push Koch up a gear, Gvardiol arriving could be vital in replacing either Koch or Cooper, after all, conceding seven goals in your first two games is relegation form, no matter how good you have been going forward, so that may be a change Bielsa looks to implement a little further down the line.

West Bromwich Albion are eyeing quite the coup on deadline day if emerging reports are to be believed…

What’s the word?

According to The Sun’s Alan Nixon, the Baggies hold an interest in Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend but it’s claimed that the Midlands outfit may struggle to raise the finances to secure him.

It is also suggested that Albion would be willing to pay £6m but the Eagles would only let him go if they could secure a replacement with Said Benrahma one name mooted.

Bye-bye Phillips?

Another winger isn’t likely to be top of Slaven Bilic’s needs today but given their fortunes since their return to the Premier League, he should take anything he can get.

It’s clear to see that the likes of Matty Phillips and Kamil Grosicki are not in the Croatian’s plans this season, which would leave only Matheus Pereira and perhaps Kyle Edwards as the only options on the right flank.

In fact, the Scotsman probably isn’t cut for the top-flight, so replacing him with Townsend could be a shrewd move from Luke Dowling.

This season, the 29-year-old has contributed to three goals from just four matches whilst averaging two dribbles, 1.8 key passes and one shot per game, via WhoScored.

Not even Pereira is managing more key passes each outing than the Englishman whilst only Grady Diangana has averaged more dribbles.

Former Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas once lauded Townsend as a “fearless player” who “takes the team forward with his driving forward and link-up play” which is something the leaky Baggies have perhaps lacked going forward this season.

They’ve already drawn a blank in two of their opening four matches, something Townsend could help alleviate.

AND in other news, West Brom target Karlan Grant won’t solve all of their woes after Bartley catastrophe…

Leeds United’s team of the early 2000s is full of players we could spend all day fawning over.

Rio Ferdinand is one of the greatest defenders this country has ever produced, Lucas Radebe has captained Leeds more times than any other player, Mark Viduka was nigh-on unplayable on his day, while not many could match Lee Bowyer for heart and desire.

However, two players that don’t quite get the credit they deserve are Ian Harte and Gary Kelly.

The Irish pairing were driving their team forward from the back before it was fashionable, and the club haven’t quite had a pairing as good as those two since.

Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling are brilliant in their own right, but when you consider that Kelly and Harte had key roles to play in Leeds consistently challenging the top four, it’s hard to envisage them surpassing Harte and Kelly’s achievements, especially as they’re both closing in on their 30th birthdays.

Luckily, the next generation could see two fresh full-backs take up the mantle, and if they reach their potential, they could be United’s best pairing since the two Irishmen.

Indeed, Leif Davis and Cody Drameh are both developing at Leeds, and they look like they could be the perfect modern full-backs.

Davis’ talent has already been seen by Leeds fans as he’s made a dozen appearances for the first-team, earning all sorts of plaudits along the way, being tracked by Liverpool and compared to Gareth Bale, which is some of the highest praise you can get as an attacking left-back.

Drameh on the other hand has been courted by Manchester City and compared to Ryan Sessegnon – a man often touted as the next Bale, so you can see something of a pattern emerging here.

If Davis and Drameh reach their perceived potential they could realistically be United’s full-back pairing for the next decade, and if they manage to break through while Marcelo Bielsa is still at Elland Road that will be even more exciting, considering how forward-thinking the Argentine is with his use of full-backs.

Newcastle should be thanking their lucky stars that they didn’t end up signing Everton midfielder Tom Davies in the summer transfer window.

What was the story?

Reports claimed that Magpies boss Steve Bruce is a huge admirer of the Englishman, and that he had asked the Tyneside club to prepare an offer in the region of £12m to sign him.

It was added that Bruce was keen to expand a British core on Tyneside, despite operating with a limited budget. In the end, Davies stayed put at Goodison Park, and it’s good news for Newcastle that he did.

Worse than Shelvey

After breaking onto the scene as a youngster on the blue half of Merseyside – Toffees fans will remember his goal against Manchester City back in January 2017 fondly – things haven’t been plain sailing for Tom Davies.

In fact, the 22-year-old has arguably regressed. His breakthrough season in the 2016/2017 campaign saw him net two goals and provide three assists in 24 Premier League games. The following years? A record of just three goals in 79 top-flight matches.

With Isaac Hayden already being Bruce’s midfield enforcer, and Jonjo Shelvey being the passer alongside him, it’s difficult to see how Davies would have offered an upgrade on either of those players.

In fact, compared to Shelvey in particular, the Evertonian ace is considerably worse in many of the key midfield attributes. As per WhoScored, Davies averaged a measly 0.6 shots and 0.2 key passes per game in the Premier League last season, whilst the Newcastle man registered 1.7 shots and 1.7 key passes per match.

For £12m, Davies would have been a truly awful value for money signing, and Newcastle should be happy that they didn’t sign him in the end.