Odds of an all English European Cup Final

The UEFA Champions League, previously also known as the European Cup, is the most prestigious club trophy in European football. There is not a single football team that would not die to be a finalist. However, some teams had more luck than others. Manchester United went on to have twenty-five-match unbeaten run, which now counts as the longest run in the Champions League history. Arsenal keeps the most consecutive clean record with ten matches. And AC Milan and Real Madrid are the two teams that successfully defended the trophy, though Real Madrid is the best-ever winning team with twelve times.

But what are the odds of having all English European finals? Bookmakers, like Leovegas Sport, see this as an unlikely scenario. Let’s take a look at both semifinals’ games and their odds.

For the first semifinal game, Valencia vs. Arsenal, Valencia will have to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit when entertaining Arsenal in the Europa League. Arsenal (Gunners) are considered poor travelers, plus Valencia (Los Che) beat Manchester United and Young Boys in the Champions League this season and won eight straight games at home in this competition. In addition, if we also check the statistics where the Gunners have lost nine of their last 15 away games in all competitions (though they did hold firm to win at Napoli during the quarter-finals), we are up for a very entertaining game. We can expect the initiative to be taken by the hosts. The Spanish side has an away goal, so they need to score at least two more to go through to the final. However, Gunners know that a goal for them will undoubtedly kill off the tie. The odds for Valencia to win the match are high, but not also to continue into the finals.

For the second semifinal game, Chelsea vs. Eintracht, Chelsea know the away goal they scored at the Commerzbank-Arena could be crucial for their survival in this Europa League second leg. Chelsea ended up dominating the first leg, the London side’s defense will now need to stay awake to combat the threat of the fast-paced counter attacks that Eintracht are liable to make. Although Frankfurt’s team have to score at least one goal to increase their odds, most of the bookers are pushing the ball on the Chelsea side, making them firm favorite to reach the Europa League final. After drawing 1-1 with Eintracht in the first leg, Chelsea set a new UEFA Europa League record of 16 consecutive matches without a defeat. As the Blues (Chelsea) have never lost a game at home to German visitors (winning six of the eight), all of which in the UEFA Champions League over the past 20 years, plus justifiably judging by what we saw in Germany, Chelsea’s higher chance to win this game and continuing into the finals is logical.

Two highly entertaining matches are ahead of us. With lots of statistics and partially mixed odds, the possibility for an all English European cup final is definitely plausible.