2023 UCL Group C Predictions

Group C of 2022/2023 UCL makes a good case to be the strongest or most competitive group this year. The four clubs are Barcelona, Bayern, Inter, and Plzen. A certified death group, the anticipation, and excitement are through the roof for these group matches. Here are our 2023 UCL Group C predictions.

With the first matches of this year’s UCL group stage already finished, the odds and predictions have been shaken up a bit. In this article, we solely cover Group C of the 2022/23 Champions League. Under the first subsection, you will find our predictions for the final group standings, based on estimates after all six matchdays. The following subsections contain each club’s individual chances of advancing to the Round of 16 or even winning the competition altogether.

Early predictions for final 2023 UCL Group C standings

With so much talent in one group, it’s hard to pick an outright winner. So, after the first matches and careful consideration, we thought of the following. Bayern will win Group C but there’s a good chance that they won’t win all of their games. We think the Germans will finish with around 13-14 points. Barcelona will advance from 2nd place with 12 points. There’s also a slight chance that the winner of Group C will be decided on goal difference.

Inter’s UCL campaign this year will not go past the group stage. The previously mentioned two clubs are better organized and have been performing much better. We think the Italians will bow out of the competition with about 7-8 points. Lastly, we have Plzen in a predicted 4th place finish. It doesn’t matter how badly the others perform, no 2023 UCL Group C predictions favor Plzen. The Czech could sneak in a win somewhere, but they won’t have more than 4 points by the end of this stage.

Barcelona to overcome their past mistakes – 2023 UCL Group C predictions

The new look Barcelona team is favored by many this year. Barcelona have five European Cup/UCL titles, the last one coming from the 2014/2015 campaign. However, the Champions League hasn’t been kind to the Catalans recently. They’re in the same group as Bayern once again, who beat them on both occasions last season. In the end, the Spanish club failed to make it past the group stage. Many things have changed since then, however. This summer, Barcelona had one of the greatest and most impressive transfer windows of all time.

They acquired many players, including Bayern’s greatest attacking option, Robert Lewandowski. The world eagerly awaits the matches between these two clubs. After beating Plzen 5-1 on 7 September, Barcelona top their group. On 20Bet Sportsbook, their odds to win Group C are 2.68. Comparatively, their odds of advancing to the next round are 1.20. We believe Barcelona will move past last season’s mistakes and make it to the Round of 16. Keep an eye out for those predictions as well in the future.

Bayern Munich are expected to rise to the top of their group

Bayern have the joint-third most European Cup/Champions League titles, having won the competition six times. They most recently won it in 2020 and reached the quarter-finals twice since then. The Bavarians were looking menacing as they beat Inter 2-0 in their first group stage match. They remain undefeated across all competitions this season. Only time will tell how much Lewandowski’s absence will be felt but we might get a glimpse of that soon when they face Barcelona. According to the majority of online sportsbook sites in Spain, Bayern are the favorites to win Group C.

This isn’t that much of a surprise as the Bavarians have a squad that balances experience and young talent perfectly. Their odds to qualify from their group are 1.02, meaning it would take a miracle for them to miss the Round of 16. Most of the 2023 UCL Group C predictions share the opinion that the Germans are the favorites in their group. Their 1.47 odds to win Group C also back this statement. If you want to know how far Bayern can go this year, check out our 2023 UCL betting predictions.

Inter might not have what it takes to succeed in Group C of the 2023 UCL

Inter’s three European Cup/Champions League titles put the already impressive tally to 14 titles. The Black and Blues were considered the strongest Italian club in the preseason. After a couple of weeks in Serie A and now the Champions League, this statement might have been a bit hasty. If you want to trace back to our 2023 Serie A predictions, feel free to do so. It was clear that Inter weren’t the favorites against Bayern, even with the home venue advantage. But the Germans outperformed last year’s Scudetto runner-ups in every statistical category.

Inter are a good team but they might have downgraded themselves a bit from last season. And they’re certainly not better than Barcelona or Bayern this season. On 20Bet Sportsbook, their odds to make it past the group stage are 3.37. Winning Group C however became nothing short of an impossible task, as their odds of 16.46 reflect this. We don’t expect Inter to go down quietly and without a fight, but they will fall in the end. Our predictions place them as 3rd in Group C of the 2023 UCL.

Plzen have been dropped into a nightmare

Plzen won the Czech league title last season and fought their way through the qualifying rounds to get here. They earned their much-deserved spot by beating HJK Helsinki, Sheriff, and Qarabag along their journey. The club reached the UCL group stage three times before, in 2011, 2013, and 2018. However, they never made it to the Round of 16. From Plzen’s perspective, what we have here is a death group. These death groups usually appear every once in a while, at international tournaments.

There is no rational scenario where Plzen makes it past this stage of the competition, and online sportsbook news in Spain has been on this case for a while. What could happen is that Plzen pull off an upset against one of their opponents. These things can happen but when there’s an underdog like this Czech club, the story rarely has a happy ending. Their odds to advance are 47.49 and 237.00 to win Group C. The 2023 UCL Group C predictions aren’t exactly kind to Plzen.

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