This would have been a different type of article last year. Let’s just begin by saying that. Then, writing a piece on the ten best teams left in the Champions League after the group stage could only have been subjective. That’s not entirely the case in the new format. There’s now a league table to consult, one that will literally tell you the best teams from one to ten.

Yet, the table lies sometimes. It must, right? How could Real Madrid, a team that has won five of the eight editions, including the last one, really be 11th? They beat the team they’re directly underneath, Borussia Dortmund, 2-0 in that final and 5-2 in this season’s competition. See? The table lies, but that’s part of the fun of the format. Let’s begin with Los Blancos.

The best team in Europe added Kylian Mbappé to their ranks last summer, ending one of the most protracted transfer sagas of the century in the process. It took the Frenchman a few months to properly settle, but he already has more than 20 goals to his name a little past the halfway mark of the campaign. In that way, he’s a Madrid man, coming into form at the right moments. Carlo Ancelotti’s side have a tough task in qualifying for the last 16 when they face Manchester City in that play-off, even if it’s far from a vintage Pep Guardiola side. Nobody can dismiss City, but this is Real Madrid, and when it comes to Champions League betting, they’re always favourites.