Man City, Real Madrid, Liverpool: Who will win the Champions League? | OneFootball

Ladies and gentlemen, the UEFA Champions League finally returns to our lives this evening.

After months without a weekly fix of sizzling European action, club football's biggest competition is back - and we're struggling to contain our excitement.

The Champions League last-16 ties look primed to be entertaining in the extreme, with some seriously big names going head-to-head.

Liverpool vs Real Madrid, Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea are the three headline fixtures, although Manchester City vs RB Leipzig has all the necessary ingredients to be a corker as well.

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City are bidding to win the Champions League for the very first time, while manager Pep Guardiola is eyeing up a triumph with a team that doesn't feature Lionel Messi in his absolute prime.

The current champions of England are expected to progress from their tie with Leipzig. In fact, the stats boffins over at FiveThirtyEight have given them a 72% chance of reaching the quarter-final stage.

However, City are NOT the current favourites to win the 2022/23 Champions League.

Guardiola and his men have to make do with second place in that regard, which is something of a surprise it must be said.

Check out the full ranking of the 16 teams in order...

16. Club Brugge | <1% chance of winning

15. Eintracht Frankfurt | <1% chance of winning

14. AC Milan | 1% chance of winning

13. RB Leipzig | 3% chance of winning

12. Inter Milan | 3% chance of winning

11. Borussia Dortmund | 3% chance of winning

10. Tottenham Hotspur | 4% chance of winning

9. Paris Saint-Germain | 4% chance of winning

8. Chelsea | 4% chance of winning

7. FC Porto | 5% chance of winning

6. Liverpool | 6% chance of winning

5. Benfica | 6% chance of winning

4. Real Madrid | 8% chance of winning

3. Napoli | 9% chance of winning

2. Manchester City | 21% chance of winning

1. Bayern Munich | 23% chance of winning

So, despite the fact their playing Messi's PSG side, Bayern are the favourites - and have been given a 71% chance of beating the French outfit over the course of two legs.

In-form Napoli make up the rest of the podium, just sneaking ahead of holders Real Madrid.

Benfica, Porto and Liverpool's positions seem a tad high to us, especially with PSG languishing in ninth.

But as the ol' saying goes, the stats never lie...