Rio Ferdinand names his favorites to win UEFA Champions League this season, reveals advantage they have over rest of the contenders

Rio Ferdinand has named Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) as the favorite to win the Champions League this season. The former Manchester United defender has claimed that the French giants have a big advantage over the other contenders.

Luis Enrique's side made their way to the quarter-finals after overcoming league phase winners Liverpool courtesy of a penalty shootout. After a 1-1 aggregate draw over two legs, the Parisians got the better of the Premier League leaders in the shootout.

Liverpool's stellar form this season saw many pundits regard them as one of the frontrunners for the Champions League this season. After their win against the Merseyside giants, pundit Rio Ferdinand has labelled the French capital club as his favorite.

Ferdinand insisted that Enrique has the luxury to rest most of his key players ahead of their continental games, which gives them a major advantage. The former England defender said, as quoted by Football 365:

“I’m so excited, what a draw. If I’ve got to predict who is going to win the Champions League I’m going Barcelona in the final against Paris Saint-Germain. It’s going to be PSG or Real Madrid isn’t it. PSG have been the best team to watch for me this year in the knockout stages, definitely the most impressive so I’m going to go for them."

Ferdinand added:

“The fact that in their league they can afford to rest players that’s going to be a massive thing for this PSG team going forward. Liverpool they played eight of the same players that played at the weekend in the Champions League and I think PSG rested most of their players if not all of them. Big difference, freshness to overrun teams."

The former England defender concluded:

“I’m going to go PSG to win it. Although it’s in Real Madrid’s DNA I will go with them to win it right now. They’ve changed from trying to go Galactico superstar and buy the big Champions League trophy to going no our team ethic, spirit and togetherness will win us that trophy. Whether they win it I’m going to go as far as to say the next two to three years if they don’t win it this year they will win the Champions League.”

PSG look destined to retain their Ligue 1 title this season as they lead second-placed Marseille by 16 points already. Enrique's side could only secure the 15th place in the league phase of UCL but demolished Brest 10-0 on aggregate in the playoffs.

The French giants have spent millions over the last decade eyeing for the Champions League but the trophy has eluded them. They made it to the final in 2020 but lost 1-0 against Bayern Munich.

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Thierry Henry claims Arsenal can beat Real Madrid in the Champions League

Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has claimed that the Gunners can beat Real Madrid in the quarter-final of the Champions League. Mikel Arteta's side have been drawn against the 15-time European champions in the last eight of the competitions.

Henry has claimed that Arsenal can get the better of the reigning European champions if they believe in themselves. He said, as quoted by Metro:

"I’ve seen Greece winning the Euros, I’ve seen Leicester winning the league just believe that you can that’s what I’m saying. Are you going to do it? That’s a different ball game. Look at how Atletico beat them they played them more than well so many times and it still wasn’t enough. I’ve seen City play Real Madrid so many times, so well and it still wasn’t enough."

The former Barcelona star added:

"‘If you go there without the belief you can win stay at home. We’ve seen teams being good defensively, offensively, not in the tunnel, to beat Real Madrid you need the perfect game from minute one right when the referee blows the whistle. It has to be the perfect game if you want to knock out Real Madrid. Even if you are perfect it might not be enough, now it’s on the team to show if they can do it at home and then away that’s a tough task."

Henry scored the decisive goal for Arsenal when they last played Real Madrid in the 2005-06 Champions League. The forward scored in a 1-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu before the return leg finished 0-0 at Highbury.

Mikel Arteta's side demolished PSV Eindhoven 9-3 across two legs in the Round of 16 to make their way to the last eight. They have lost just once in 10 games in Europe this season.