Outside Picks for Champions League Top 8 Race as One Round Remains

One round remains in the League Phase of the Champions League, and while a couple of teams have secured a top 8 finish, the race is open for the rest. To spice things up, we have picked out a few outsiders in the eyes of the bookies.

New Format Proves Doubters Wrong

Although initially met with scepticism, the new Champions League format has resulted in some proper entertainment this season. Upsets have certainly been more common as each game has a do-or-die character, as opposed to the 'protection' of two legs in the group stage, and the race for the top 24 spots remains wide open.

The likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, for example, are in 25th and 22nd place respectively. Especially Pep Guardiola's side are thus at risk of not even qualifying for the knockout play-offs, which would be a huge disappointment, and this comes after a mini-resurgence in the Premier League.

Focusing on the top 8 for a second, though, it's clear that several teams have everything in their own hands ahead of the last round. All of the games are scheduled for 20:00 UK time on Wednesday this week, so we won't have to wait long for the outcome, and there is bound to be at least one 'choke'.

Outsiders to Back in Top 8 Race

Seeing as there are six heavy favourites for six places, who should you back if you are looking for longer odds? There are quite a few good candidates, truth be told, but a few stand out to me and could be worth a bet. The teams currently in the top 8, who are yet to secure their spot, all have pretty easy games in the last round except for Atalanta, who will face Barcelona.

The Italian side could thus pave the way for one of the teams below, or potentially AC Milan (in 6th at the moment) who will face Dinamo Zagreb away from home. In any case, the race behind is not as easy to call as some might think. Feyenoord and Lille will square off in a direct clash, seeing as both could clinch top 8 with a win, while Aston Villa will be up against in-form Celtic.

Of course, giants like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid (both 12 points) cannot be ruled out either, but the feeling is certainly that one of the teams on 13 points will win. Given the short odds of Aston Villa in the race, I will steer clear of them and instead suggest the following two teams to succeed: Atalanta and Feyenoord.

Once again, there are a lot of variables at play and one unexpected result could change everything (such as a top 8 favourite failing to win). Atalanta have shown before that they can perform under pressure as underdogs (Europa League final against Leverkusen) and Feyenoord are beaming from their 3-0 win against Bayern Munich - with Santiago Gimenez in red-hot form as well.