Maryan Shved Moves To UCL: Does This Change The Odds?

Meta: Just one year after Celtic FC flop Maryan Shved left the hoops, the 25-year-old Ukrainian is closing in on joining Shakhtar Donetsk, who qualified for the upcoming Champions League. Does this move change the betting odds?

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Mayran Shved is closing in a move to join Ukrainian side Shaktar Donetsk. The 25-year-old Ukrainian national had an underwhelming spell at Celtic after joining the hoops for £2 million back in 2019. The winger’s career seems to be back on track after being loaned out for brief spells at Karpaty Lviv and then Mechelen.

Both Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic qualified for the upcoming Champions League. Shakhtar are in pot 3, and Celtic are in pot 4 (and so too are arch-rivals Rangers). Can Shved face his former teammates in the Champions League, and if he does encounter them, is it likely to affect the betting odds?

He will no doubt want to show them what they are missing by getting rid of him and will want to be the player that scores the goals and knocks his former team out. Here’s a closer look at some of the latest UCL betting odds at several trusted sports betting sites.

UEFA Champions League top goal scorer odds

It doesn’t look as though Maryan Shved will have any effect whatsoever on the upcoming UCL (UEFA Champions League) football betting odds. However, you could say that if he does end up playing for Shakhtar Donetsk in a game against his former Celtic, he may be given improved odds of scoring against the Hoops. It’s hard to say at this early stage. If you’re looking to have a flutter on any of the upcoming games, one of the best websites for online betting in Ghana is 10Bet Africa. This trusted site already has several open markets for the UEFA Champions League.

There are 54 popular strikers/forwards that are likely to score the most goals in the competition, and Maryan Shved isn’t one of these players. Let’s take a closer look at which players are likely to score the most. The favourite right now is Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. He is currently priced at +300 in American/Moneyline odds to score more goals than any other player. When converted into UK fractional odds, it works out to 3/1 odds, and when converted into decimal odds, it works out to 4.00.

In comparison, PSG’s Kylian Mbappe is the second favourite player to score the most and is currently priced at +600 (which is 6/1, or 7.00), and both Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich and Liverpool’s Mo Salah are priced at +900 (9/1, or 10.00). The forwards/strikers that are least likely to score the most are Club Brugge’s Andreas Skov Olsen, with +50,000 odds (500/1, or 501.00), and Porto’s Mehdi Taremi, who is currently priced at +30,000 (300/1, or 301.00). In other words, a safe bet would be Erling Haaland, and a silly bet would be Andreas Skov Olsen.

Which teams are more likely to come out on top

Based on which player is likely to score the most goals in the UCL, it should give also give you an inkling as to which team has the best chance of winning. If you hadn’t already guessed by now, Manchester City are the current favourites to win the tournament outright with favourable +250 odds (5/2, or 3.50). PSG are currently second favourites to win with +500 odds (5/1, or 6.00), and both Liverpool and Bayern Munich are third favourites with +700 odds (7/1, or 8.00). In comparison, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Haifa, and Viktoria Plzen are the three least favourite teams to win.

For example, Viktoria Plzen are currently priced at +500,000 odds to win (5,000/1, or 5,001.00). Maccabi Haifa are currently priced at +400,000 odds to win (4,000/1, or 4,001.00), and Dinamo Zagreb are currently priced at +300,000 odds to win (3,000/1, or 3,001.00). Although these average odds are accurate at the time of writing, don’t forget that they can easily change between now and the actual tournament.

Anything could happen. For example, Haaland could get injured, which is quite unlikely, and may end up missing the tournament, which would mean that another player would emerge as the favourite to score more goals. The best thing to do if you’re going to place a bet would be to keep an eye on the markets and stay up to date with the latest team news for the UCL teams.

Upcoming UCL fixtures

Some of the opening fixtures you can look forward to are scheduled to take place on September 6th. You have Dinamo Zagreb at home to Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund at home to FC Copenhagen, Benfica at home to Maccabi Haifa, and RB Leipzig at home to Shakhtar Donetsk. Also, on the same day, PSG play Juventus at home, Sevilla host Manchester City, Celtic are at home to Real Madrid, and Red Bull Salzburg play AC Milan at home.