Champions League Preview
The race for a place in this season's Champions League final at Wembley gets underway this week as spread bettors debate who to follow on Sporting Index's outright win index (100 points for the winner, 75 for runner-up, 50 for losing semi-finalist, 25 for losing quarter-finalist and 10 for last 16). The football traders have installed Barcelona as spread favourites, at 49-52pts, and buyers of their win index will be hoping they can improve on last year's semi-final defeat to eventual champions Inter Milan.
Jose Mourinho's summer transfer from the European champions to Real Madrid will mean that many spread bettors will consider buying the outright spread of his new side at 38 points given the Portuguese manager's formidable European record. Those spread punters looking to sell Los Blancos' outright index will be aware of the team's poor recent record - relative to the top competitors - in Europe's premier competition. They have failed to make it to the final since 2002.
If Inter Milan are to retain their Champions League title they will first have to escape a potentially tricky group containing Werder Bremen, Tottenham and Dutch club FC Twente. Spread buyers of their Group A index (25 points for the winner, 10pts for runner-up, 5pts for third) at 18 will be hoping that Rafael Benitez can at least lead his team to top the group even if they expect him to struggle to deliver a second consecutive European title. Buyers of their outright spread at 32pts will be concerned that no individual country has won back-to-back competitions for 20 years. Their great rivals, AC Milan, were the last side to lift the trophy in successive seasons in 1989 and 1990.
The English sides will again attract plenty of spread buyers given their strong showing over the past few seasons in Europe. With the grand finale being held on English soil it could give the sides even more incentive to be there at the end. Buyers of Manchester United's spread at 39pts will be hoping that last year's premature defeat was just a blip having made the previous two finals in Moscow and Rome. They are favourites in the Group C index at 21.5pts and third favourites on the outright index to win a fourth title. Sellers of their spread will have noted that there were few big-money acquisitions over the summer, so the side will rely on the same squad which was eliminated by Bayern Munich last campaign.
Buyers of Chelsea's outright index at 43 will be desperate to see Carlo Ancelotti claim his third Champions League trophy - having won two already with AC Milan. Sellers will be looking for a repeat of last year's tournament, when the London club crashed out to the eventual winners in the round of 16. Another English hope for Champions League glory will be Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and those that have bought the club's outright index at 35 will be hoping they can emulate their final appearance in 2006.
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