UEFA Champions League Playoff Round Tip 2025 - Exciting UCL Predictions

The UEFA Champions League never fails to deliver drama, tension, and surprises, and the playoff round of the 2025 instalment of the tournament is sure to follow in a similar vein. The newly created knockout round follows on from the expanded initial league phase which saw 36 teams battle it out to progress. The top eight ranked teams have all secured a spot in the round of 16, while teams ranked from ninth to 24th now must face off in a bid to join them.

Heading into the latter stages of the tournament, Liverpool is the team that online sports betting sites are tipping for glory. The latest sports betting at Bovada odds currently makes the Premier League leaders a +400 favourite to win the tournament for a seventh time. They won seven of their eight league phase games to secure top seed status going forward, but for some of the continent's finest, they are aiming just to join The Reds in the round of 16.

With eight thrilling ties coming up, here are our tips and predictions for what to expect in the Champions League playoff round.

Real Madrid Eliminate Manchester City Again

Real Madrid headed into the 2024/25 tournament as the reigning champions. They managed to hold their nerve last season to narrowly defeat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, with Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Jr. both netting in the second half to claim a record-extending 15th title. This time around, despite adding the mercurial Kylian Mbappe, Los Blancos have stuttered their way into the latter stages, finishing 11th in the table.

Their reward? A mouthwatering clash with a Manchester City side in the midst of a crisis never before seen with Pep Guardiola at the helm.

The two teams have clashed numerous times in recent years. The Spaniards eliminated the Blues at the quarterfinal stage last season, winning on penalties at the Etihad despite being underdogs. Two years before that, they famously reeled off the comeback of all comebacks, scoring twice in injury time to take the tie to extra time before ultimately prevailing through a Karim Benzema penalty.

This year, they will get the job done again. Despite some inconsistency, the reigning Spanish and European champions still look like the team to beat. The fearsome trident of Mbappe, Vinicius, and Jude Bellingham have led Los Blancos to the top of the La Liga table, despite injuries to defensive linchpins Antonio Rüdiger and Éder Militão. But neither of those enforced absences compare to the dismay in Manchester.

City lost central midfielder and talisman Rodri earlier in the season, and their form has fallen off a cliff since. They are way down in fourth in the Premier League, with a resounding 5-1 defeat away at Arsenal - the joint-heaviest defeat of Pep Guardiola's career - leaving them some 15 points behind leaders Liverpool. It took a second-half comeback against lowly Club Brugge to secure their spot in the Champions League playoff round, and that is where their journey will end.

Sporting Upset Borussia Dortmund

Despite reaching the Champions League final last season, Borussia Dortmund have had to endure a disastrous first half of the 2024/25 season. They have plummeted down to 11th place in the Bundesliga standings and are closer to the relegation zone than they are to table-topping Bayern Munich. Their domestic woes didn't hinder them too much on the continental stage, finishing in tenth place and just one point adrift of an automatic spot in the round of 16.

Unfortunately for them though, that has left Der BVB at the mercy of Portuguese champions Sporting CP. The Portuguese outfit has had to endure a turbulent campaign of their own following the departure of manager Ruben Amorim to Manchester United, but they have seemingly gotten back on track under former Vitória Guimaraes manager Rui Borges. They squeezed through to the knockout round with a late equaliser at home to already-eliminated Bologna, but now they can focus on improving ahead of their huge clash against the Germans.

The Portuguese side has not only had to deal with the loss of perhaps their most successful manager in history, but also injuries to star men Pedro Gonçalves and Victor Gyokeres, although both of them are expected to return before the playoff round. They will give nightmares to a Dortmund defence that has struggled to keep regular starters Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Sule fit, and there could be plenty of opportunities for the Lisbon outfit to create openings for their lethal Swedish striker.

If Gonçalves is indeed fully fit for this one, expect Sporting to run riot. If he isn't, the goals may not flow as freely, but they should still have enough about them to progress. For Dortmund, young English winger Jamie Gittens has become the star of the show, but a lack of a supporting cast will leave him woefully out-gunned. They will leave the tournament with their tails tucked between their legs, and there is no guarantee that they will make a return in the coming years if their recent Bundesliga showings are anything to go by.