Champions League: Man City 1/6 to reach play-offs and 10/1 to go all the way | OneFootball

UEFA Champions League

Guardiola's City are still as short as 10/1 to win the Champions League 2024/25

The Champions League group stage will reach its conclusion next week and, with plenty to play for in the vast majority of matches, Manchester City are one of the clubs that cannot take qualification for the knockout rounds for granted...

City have work to do in thrilling final group matchday

Manchester City are 1/6 to get through to the next round of the Champions League after they surrendered a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.

Pep Guardiola's team are 25th in the 36-team table but bettors think they will be in the top 24 come the conclusion of next week's final matchday of group stage fixtures.

What's more, the market also indicates that City are still contenders to win the competition outright. They are 10/1 on the Betfair Sportsbook to win the Champions League for a second time in 2024/25.

The new Champions League format has thrown up plenty of drama and teams will head into next week's final group stage matchday with only two of the 18 matches as dead rubbers.

If you need reminding about how the competition works, the teams who finish 1-8 in the League Phase table reach the last 16 automatically, while the teams who finish 9-24 play a two-legged knockout round game (teams 9-16 seeded and 17-24 unseeded) to reach the last 16.  The teams who finish 25-36 are eliminated.

If City beat Club Brugge at home next Wednesday they will book their place in the playoffs for the last 16. But will they do that? The answer from the Betfair markets is an emphatic 'yes' with City 1/6 to finish in the top 24.

But they have been unreliable in the Champions League so far this term, losing at Sporting Lisbon and Juventus, as well as throwing away a lead to draw at home against Feyenoord. Guardiola looked baffled and upset during City's Paris horrorshow and will not take anything for granted ahead of next week's crucial match against the Beligans.

Villa and Arsenal can join Liverpool in top eight

Liverpool have excelled on all fronts under Arne Slot this season and are already guaranteed a place in the top eight of the Champions League group table. They are the tournament favourites at 4/1 and just 40/1 to achieve a quadruple.

Aston Villa were given a stern talking to by Unai Emery when they lost to Monaco on Tuesday, a result that left them ninth in the table.

But the Villans are 4/9 to finish the group stage in the top eight ahead of their final match against Celtic. The Scottish club are 18th and, will head to Villa Park, knowing they can still make the top 16 (seeded for play-offs) safe in the knowledge that they're guaranteed to finish in the top 24.

Arsenal also look destined to make the top eight after making light work of Dinamo Zagreb this week. The Gunners sit third in the table and will travel to a Girona side that have nothing to play for in their final group stage fixture.

The Gunners look so assured of a top eight finish that they have been deemed unbackable. They are, however, 6/1 joint-second favourites with Barcelona and Real Madrid in the outright winner betting.

Madrid kept their top eight hopes alive with a 5-1 victory over RB Salzburg last night but, at 30/1 for the top eight, are likely to have to get through one of the two-legged play-offs to reach the last 16.

Carlo Ancelotti's men have played City repeatedly in recent season in the Champions League and they could meet again this time, albeit a little sooner than expected if they are drawn together in the play-offs.

We will have an in-depth guide to the final group stage matchday this weekend so look out for that.