GERMANY legend Lothar Matthaus has picked his four favourites to win the Champions League and THREE of them are from the Premier League.
The former Bayern Munich and Inter Milan icon has backed Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool to go far in the competition but his comments do not make good reading for Man Utd.
All four Prem sides are in the qualification spots in their respective groups with Chelsea the only team who are not top.
However, United have looked unconvincing in most of their fixtures and relied on Cristiano Ronaldo to save them against Villarreal and Atalanta.
Matthaus said: “For me, the favourites for the Champions League are Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Bayern Munich.
“Barcelona have their problems and Atletico Madrid have always been a dangerous team, but they are not as good a team as Liverpool or Man City.”
City and Bayern are joint favourites with the bookies with Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain next in line.
In Group A, Pep Guardiola’s men need just two points from their games against PSG and RB Leipzig to guarantee qualification.
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Liverpool have already won Group B and will be able to rest players for their final two group stage games against AC Milan and Porto.
Bayern would need a miraculous collapse to see them finish second in their group as they are six points and 19 goals clear of Barca in second.
United are far from safe.
Although they sit top, they are level on seven points with second-placed Villarreal and Atalanta are just two points behind the Red Devils in third.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men need wins against Villarreal and Young Boys to secure top spot in their last two fixtures.
Despite being second in Group H, Chelsea are much more comfortbale.
The Blues have six points more than third-placed Zenit.
And they need just one more draw from their last two group games against the Russians and Malmo to secure their passage through to the knock-out stages.
Michael Owen agrees with Matthaus.
He recently told BT Sport: “I think English football and the Premier League is so far ahead of everyone else at the moment and getting even stronger.
“We’ve been ahead for a few years anyway and then we’ve taken the two best players in the Italian league in Ronaldo and [Romelu] Lukaku.
“Lionel Messi’s gone to a weaker league so the Spanish league has got weaker. I can never really take the French league as seriously as maybe I should.
“We’re taking the best managers as well. I think the biggest dangers to Liverpool are probably Man City and Chelsea.
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“You look at the Anfield factor, I just can’t get that out of my head.
“Good luck going there in the second leg of a European tie. They are almost unbeatable at Anfield.
“You’d have to say that Liverpool are favourites.”
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