Championship League quarter finals analysis.

The draw for Championship League quarter finals matches has already taken place. The matches between Juventus and Bayern Munich and between Barcelona and PSG seem to be most interesting. Hopefully the rest of the matches will be full of emotions as well. Certainly no one will give up without fighting.

In the following paragraphs I am describing bookmakers predictions comparing them to my own. Interestingly some of them differ by more then 10%.

1. Juventus Torino – Bayern Munich
Undoubtedly a hit of quarter finals. Match against two teams that shine not only in the national leagues but in the Championship League as well. It is very difficult to clearly tip the winner of this fight and probably the disposition of the team will decide. Few days ago Bayern was tipped to become the winner of the Champions League (people stopped believing in the advance of Barcelona) unfortunately for Bayern's fans the reduction of form is also possible (league match with Fortuna Dusseldorf or revenge match against Arsenal) overall outcome gave other teams the prove that it is possible to win against every team. Juventus played a poor match against Napoli, Roma and Catania as well so both teams are on the same place. Bookmaker Unibet's odds are 1,57 for the advance of Bayern and 2,25 for Juventus. I am estimating the chances of advancing from 55% to 45% in favor of the team from Germany.

2. FC Barcelona – PSG
This match seems to be riveting as well, despite the ambitions of Ibrahimovic who has purchased several stars for his team, I do not think that the team from Paris will defeat Barcelona. Spain in the match with Milan has shown that impossible for them is possible. PSG on the other hand played weakly against Valencia moreover in the league they often make faux pas while playing with weaker teams, which does not predict a positive outcome of the rematch. Bookmaker Unibet estimates the chances of Barcelona for 1,14 while PSG's for 5,50. Odds for Barcelona very low and it seems that at this stage it should be a little bit higher. I estimate the chance Barcelona's advance for 80%.

3. Borussia Dortmund – Malaga
I do not see BVB as a front runner after all. The fact is that Borussia certainly impressed everyone during the group matches (mainly the matches against Real Madrid and home games against Szachtar Donieck) Malaga, as a matter of fact also did very well but it has had weaker group though. At this stage it is hard to find the weakest teams so the odds of 1,33 for BVB advance seems to me underestimated. Malaga as team that is less known seems not to be appreciated fairly. I estimate the chances 60% to 40% in favor of the team from Dortmund.

4. Galatasaray – Real Madrid
Real Madrid is definitely a front runner in this match and I do agree with the odds in this case. Galatasaray does not convince me at all. In the match with Shalke, despite the winning, I do not think that team from Turkey was better, but it rather had more luck, similarly to the group matches were they did not shine as well. In this match I expect Real, which is in a great form, to win. Odds for Real from 1.12 to 6.00 seem fair to me.

Firs matches will be played on 2nd and 3rd of April and the rematches on April 9th and 10th.