Champions League Stats: Real Madrid The Most Exciting UCL Team To Watch

Of the remaining 16 Champions League teams, holders Real Madrid are the most exciting side to watch, research collected by Gambling.com suggests.

The 14-time champions of Europe lifted their latest Champions League at the expense of Liverpool last season and with the knockout stages of this season’s campaign underway, they remain the team to watch.

The La Liga outfit scored 113.09 in our attacking data collection table – more than any other side – with Champions League group stage statistics collected on goals, shots, dribbles, crosses, corners and penalty area touches. 

Such metrics are deemed most likely to get fans – both at home and in the stands – on the edge of their seats, with Madrid seemingly the most entertaining, if these statistics courtesy of WyScout are anything to go by. 

Ironically, that score saw Madrid narrowly beat Liverpool to top spot, with the Reds scoring 107.47.

The two sides have been drawn against each other in the Last 16 in what will be another meeting between last season’s finalists, with the score to be settled over two legs this time around. 

Naturally, the most exciting team in the Champions League taking on the second most exciting team makes this tie the most eagerly anticipated of the Last 16 stage.

Real Madrid and Liverpool being labelled the ‘most exciting’ may raise a few eyebrows among some fanbases, with both clubs struggling domestically this season.

Liverpool are a whopping 19 points off the top of the Premier League and some nine points shy of the top four, while Real Madrid are lagging well behind rivals Barcelona in the La Liga standings – 11 points, to be precise. 

That said, both clubs have enormous Champions League pedigree, and with a combined score of 220.56 this tie between two of the most decorated sides in Europe will take some beating.

Fans of Manchester City may be irked by the notion of Liverpool being deemed ‘more exciting’ than them, but the group stage statistics paint such a picture.

With a score of 106.85, Pep Guardiola’s side – the Champions League betting favourites remember – are only third in the pecking order when it comes to the most exciting teams to watch. 

However, there’s two areas where City sit head and shoulders above the rest of their Last 16 counterparts – their output of crosses and touches inside the opposition penalty areas.

This can largely be attributed to the presence of goal machine Erling Haaland, who is a constant target for City’s wide players.

The big Norwegian averaged 7.3 touches in the penalty area per game in the group stages, although he only played four of City’s six games (scoring five times). 

Will City Miss Cancelo in the UCL?

Interestingly, Joao Cancelo – who City loaned out to Bayern Munich in the January transfer window – made the highest number of crosses (27) for City en route to winning Group G.

Mind you, City won’t miss the Portuguese full-back too much if his crossing accuracy is anything to go by – a 14.81% precision rating is much lower than former team-mates Bernardo Silva (46.15%), Kevin De Bruyne (35%) and Sergio Gomez (26.67%).

City are more likely to miss Cancelo’s defensive qualities as they look to land their first Champions League triumph. 

The 28-year-old won 75.76% of his defensive duals in the group stages, with only Ruben Dias (84.21%) and Ilkay Gündoğan (80%) bettering that rate in the Man City squad.

Manchester City UCL Odds

Attacking stats may only make City the third-most exciting team to watch in the UCL, but their overall efficiency in other departments makes them firm outright favourites with betting sites.

They’re a best price of 15/8 with several major betting apps, while Bet365 (8/11) and BetVictor (4/5) make them odds-on to reach the final for the second time. 

With 6/4 top scorer favourite Haaland in their ranks, perhaps 2023 is finally their year.