Will a Premier League manager win the 2021/22 Champions League?

Past champions, last season’s victor, and future starlets feature among 32 managerial hopefuls in the ever-fascinating fight to win the Champions League.

Ex-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino tops the betting with star-studded PSG, but where do the Premier League managers feature in the market?

A total of five managers on six occasions have won the Champions League (since 1992) while employed at a Premier League club, including Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel in the last three editions of the competition.

In fact, three of the four current Premier League managers have been victorious before, albeit Pep Guardiola’s double came at Barcelona.

Below, we assess the prices of the quartet to uncover who is best-placed to end the 2021/22 season at the top of the European tree...

Pep Guardiola (Man City)

A two-time winner and a finalist in May, although Pep Guardiola has failed to add a third Champions League trophy to the cabinet in his last nine attempts. Man City were scintillating at times in last season’s competition, only to come unstuck in the final after Guardiola opted not to employ a natural defensive midfielder against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea. 

Can the painful mistake spur him on this season? 

Guardiola has been handed odds of 9/2 to go one better this year. The Spaniard has been dealt a tough group against last season’s semi-finalists - and pre-tournaments favourites - PSG, Bundesliga runners-up RB Leipzig, and Belgian champions Club Brugge.

Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)

The defending champions are available at 8/1 to retain the trophy, a tempting price considering they have a stronger squad than last season. Most significantly through the addition of goal-machine Romelu Lukaku, who is 9/1 to be the Champions League top goalscorer.

The Blues should have far too much quality in a group featuring Malmo, Zenit, and an underwhelming Juventus who have started slowly under the returning Max Allegri.

Success would see Thomas Tuchel, who has reached the final in the last two seasons, become only the second manager since Arrigo Sacchi (1989 & 1990) to win Europe’s top competition back-to-back, while it would extend Germany’s consecutive managerial winning streak to four years following the triumphs of himself, Hansi Flick, and Jurgen Klopp.

Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

A three-time finalist who eventually lifted the trophy in 2019. With attention honed in elsewhere Jurgen Klopp’s men bizarrely seem to have gone under the radar this season, both domestically and in Europe, but you’d be silly to rule them out, especially at the double-figured price of 10/1. 

A potentially thorny group could explain Liverpool’s odds as they come up against Atletico, who knocked them out in 2020, as well as last season's quarter-finalists Porto, and the returning AC Milan.

Electric European nights will make a welcome return to Liverpool who are available at 6/5 to top Group B, while it’s not often you see Mo Salah out at 20/1 in the top goalscorer market.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Man Utd)

Previously found hovering around the 14/1 mark, last season’s Europa League runners-up have come into 9/1 with some bookies following the arrival of five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo, although you can still back Man Utd at 12/1.

Whether Ronaldo can suddenly elevate the Red Devils into European champions is open to debate - Juventus got booted out in the last-16 both times - but his presence will inject buckets of belief, with the top Champions League goalscorer of all time (134 goals) priced at 10/1 to win the Golden Boot for the seventh time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s attacking options are simply stunning and the defence has been enhanced through the addition of four-time winner Raphaël Varane. But, should United make the latter stages then the lack of a world-class central midfielder could cost them, although the January transfer market could solve that particular problem.

Man Utd are the 4/6 favourites to win a potentially tricky group featuring Europa League victors Villarreal, Gian Piero Gasperini's electric Atalanta, and Swiss champs BSC Young Boys.