Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City: Who are Champions League favourites?

The Champions League is heading towards the quarter-finals.

In one fell swoop of ruthless European action, the cohort of Ajax, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, Red Bull Salzburg and Lille have all been sent packing from the competition.

Now, only Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Benfica remain in the quest to lift ‘Big Ears’ at the Stade de France on May 28.

In many ways, the quarter-finals mark the moment in which the competition really hots up with some of the more fortunate clubs to have qualified from the groups almost entirely eliminated.

Marry that to the fact that seeding for the knockout rounds ends after the last 16 and we’re left with what is essentially a battle royal between the continent’s finest eight clubs regardless of their league.

As such, there is plenty of excitement and anticipation surrounding the quarter-final draw, which duly decides the route to the final, that will be conducted by UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland, on March 18.

And barring any of the hiccups that we witnessed during the second round draw, football fans will be treated to the final lottery of the Champions League season with each club learning of their path to Paris.

However, before the balls are drawn and fixtures are set, we wanted take stock of how the runners and racers are lining up ahead of time to try and the answer the big-money question: who’s going to win?

And while we can never be certain of the answer until the final whistle in late May is blown, the data analysts over at FiveThirtyEight give us the best possible chance of looking into the future.

Using a complex predictive algorithm, which you can learn more about here, all