Jurgen Klopp’s Reds convincingly sealed their spot in the last-16 of the Champions League but the question in the minds of most observers is what are the chances of Liverpool winning a seventh European Cup?
Through to the last-16 of the Champions League after having secured a win over Ajax on Tuesday night to secure the top spot in Group D with a game to spare, a super-computer has been put through the paces in predicting their fate in the competition.
The draw for the next round is not until December 14 but world-renowned da ta analysts FiveThirtyEight have done the toting up and have come up with a table of the most likely winners of this year’s competition.
Their predict ion is that the Reds are fourth favourites to seal a seventh European crown with their probabilities saing that Klopp’s men have a seven per cent chance of winning next year’s final at the Atatürk Stadium in Istanbul – the scene of their monumental 2005 triumph over AC Milan.
The data is also suggesting that Barcelona are twice as likely to lift the trophy (14 per cent), with German giants Bayern Munich predicted at 19 per cent.
The study also shows that Manchester City are favourites to seal a maiden Champions League success and as for Pep Guardiola’s side, whose best showing in the competition was reaching the semi-final stage in 2015/16, Man City are rated as having a 23 per cent chance of winning the competition.
Chelsea (five per cent) and Manchester United (four per cent) are predicted to have little chance of achieving success, according to the forecast.
FiveThirtyEight’s predictions on who will win this year’s Champions League (probability percentage):
Man City – 23%
Bayern Munich – 19%
Barcelona – 14%
Liverpool – 7%
Dortmund – 6%
Chelsea – 5%
Man United – 4%