At a time when football has become increasingly unpredictable due to the implications of the coronavirus pandemic, the last 16 of the Champions League has a familiar look to it. Of the teams fancied to reach the knockout stages, only Manchester United and Inter Milan have already been eliminated from the competition, leaving at least half of the remaining teams as genuine contenders to lift the trophy on May 29. It means that more elite clubs will fall by the way side in the next round, but how would the competition pan out if results were decided on the value of the respective squads?
Just like punters can with Betway Sportwetten, clubs around Europe will have conducted widespread research before deciding on the options which will give them the best rewards. Some clubs, such as Chelsea, ignored the worsening financial situation to still make big-money signings during the summer transfer window, but it has not necessarily left the Blues with a squad which is deemed to have the best value. In fact, the Blues would find themselves eliminated at the quarter-final stage by champions Bayern Munich, a club who are mixing prospects with experienced players to great effect under Hansi Flick. Nevertheless, the Bundesliga giants, somewhat inevitably, would not progress through to the final if money was the determining factor.
That honour would fall to Premier League duo Liverpool and Manchester City. While Liverpool have been quiet in the transfer market for some time, Jurgen Klopp has put together the most marketable squad in the world at around £970m. Such investment has been responsible for Liverpool reaching the 2018 and 2019 finals, lifting the trophy on the second occasion with victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Failure to match their previous spending is partly why they have been less than convincing this season, but City's decision to commit to a £97m loss with regards to their transfer business last summer has put them within touching distance of their domestic rivals, Pep Guardiola's squad now only £40m behind the current Premier League champions. As well as taking City's recent form into consideration, there is every indication that a changing of the guard could not be far away.
The above graphic also highlights which teams have been punching above their weight on the continent this season. Porto have the lowest value squad and were among the smallest spenders during the summer transfer window, but it did not stop them from finishing 10 points above Olympiacos and Marseille in their group. Despite being drawn against Juventus in the last 16, there will be a desire to stop national superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from edging closer to a Champions League crown with three different teams.
An overriding desire to reduce their wage bill led to Real Madrid being the only team in the second round to not spend any money before the start of the campaign, but the performances of Borussia Monchengladbach have generated more traction on social media. While they have the second-lowest marketable squad and had a net spend of just £3.9m, the German side were still able to finish as runners-up to Los Blancos and having scored the second-most goals in the group stages.
