New Favorite Emerges: "Supercomputer" Predicts UCL 2025-26 Champion After Round of 16 First Legs
On 12 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Opta, the leading football statistics expert, released its latest predictions for the UEFA Champions League 2025-26 title favorites after all first-leg matches of the Round of 16 were completed. The results are as follows.
Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
Newcastle 1-1 Barcelona
Atlético Madrid 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Atalanta 1-6 Bayern Munich
Leverkusen 1-1 Arsenal
Bodø/Glimt 3-0 Sporting Lisbon
Paris Saint-Germain 5-2 Chelsea
Real Madrid 3-0 Manchester City
*Second legs scheduled for 17-18 Mar 2026 GMT+7
Opta's supercomputer has now made Bayern Munich the new top favorite after their dominant 6-1 away win against Atalanta, securing a commanding advantage. Meanwhile, Arsenal dropped to second place after only managing a draw against Leverkusen.
Manchester City fell from third to ninth place following their heavy defeat to Real Madrid, who rose to fifth place. Barcelona and defending champions Paris Saint-Germain climbed to third and fourth favorites, respectively.
Liverpool slipped from fourth to seventh after Galatasaray repeated their 1-0 victory over them. Chelsea is now ranked only 13th following their heavy loss to PSG, while Tottenham dropped to 15th after a comprehensive defeat by Atlético Madrid.
1st Favorite: Bayern Munich 26.34%
2nd Favorite: Arsenal 22.07%
3rd Favorite: Barcelona 12.10%
4th Favorite: Paris Saint-Germain 10.17%
5th Favorite: Real Madrid 8.34%
6th Favorite: Atlético Madrid 6.14%
7th Favorite: Liverpool 4.64%
8th Favorite: Newcastle 2.63%
9th Favorite: Manchester City 2.27%
10th Favorite: Bodø/Glimt 2.15%
11th Favorite: Leverkusen 0.99%
12th Favorite: Galatasaray 0.85%
13th Favorite: Chelsea 0.85%
14th Favorite: Sporting Lisbon 0.50%
15th Favorite: Tottenham Hotspur 0.05%
16th Favorite: Atalanta 0.00%