Majority of Premier League fans want Liverpool to win Champions League
 
As five Premier League teams compete for coveted trophy, research from Sporting Index finds 26% of fans are rooting for Klopp’s side

  • Majority of other Premier League fans get behind Liverpool to win the Champions League
  • Most supporters (54%) want to see an English side win Champions League rather than a foreign team (46%)
  • Tottenham least popular English side in tournament, with only 11% hoping they win the trophy
  • Nearly half of Premier League supporters expect Man City to win the Champions League this season (49%)
  • Over one third of fans believe English team can win trophy this season

Monday, 12th February 2018– As five Premier League sides get set to play their Champions League last-sixteen ties in the next week, spread betting firm Sporting Index can reveal Liverpool are the most supported English team amongst Premier League fans.
 
The Reds, who face a trip to Porto in the first leg of their last-sixteen tie, topped Sporting Index’s survey, that asked supporters which English sides they would back in the tournament. Jurgen Klopp’s team received backing from 26% of fans, however only 16% believe the trophy will realistically head back to Anfield.
 
Spurs, who take on two-time Champions League winners Juventus are the least popular English team in the tournament, with only 11% of fans claiming they’d like the north London side to go on to lift the trophy.
 
Citizens favourites to lift trophy
 
Manchester City have been flying in the Champions League this season, winning all but one of their six group matches and scoring 14 along the way. Supporters believe Pep Guardiola’s team have the best chance of winning the Champions League –  49% claim they can win this season’s tournament. Tottenham are least likely to come out victorious according to the survey – only 7% said they can win the Champions League this season.  
 
Manchester United fans remain confident, with 53% of Red Devil supporters saying they can follow up last season’s Europa League win with Champions League success. However, 38% also said they think bitter rivals City can lift the trophy in May. This echoes Sporting Index’s predictions, who have City top of their Champions League outright market.
 
Despite Barcelona topping the list of sides English fans would like to see win this season’s tournament, a majority of 54% said they’d rather see the trophy back on British soil.
 
Best of Champions League
 
Fans were also asked which English Champions League winning sides were best since the tournament reformed in 1993, while they were also challenged to pick the best ever goal scored by an English side in a Champions League final.
 
One third of supporters, perhaps surprisingly, selected the Liverpool winning side from 2005 side as the best side over the likes of Manchester United’s treble winning 1999 team (30%). One quarter of fans picked the 3-3 draw and penalties win against Milan as the most entertaining and nearly a fifth (19%) chose Steven Gerrard’s header in that same match as the best goal scored by an English side in a Champions League final.
 
When asked if they would rather their club win the Champions League or England to win the World Cup, 59% said they would pick club over country.
 
Ed Fulton, political trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said:“Liverpool dominate our Champions League survey – with the majority of fans saying they will be backing England’s most successful European side. It might be unsurprising that the 3-3 final in Istanbul from 2005 was the most entertaining match to watch featuring an English side, but a few eyebrows were raised when supporters picked the same team as the best English side to compete in the history of the Champions League.
 
“Poor old Spurs don’t come out looking too good from the survey – they were picked as the least popular among other supporters, as well as receiving the fewest votes for English teams most likely to win the trophy this season. Harry Kane and co might have something to say about that.
 
“It’s good to see the majority of supporters are backing the English sides in the tournament, and fingers crossed that we see one of the teams at least make the final in Kiev this year.”