Two-Time Winner Andrea Pirlo Names 5 Favourites for Champions League This Season

Former AC Milan and Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo has named his picks for this season's Champions League.

The legendary Italian midfielder - who twice won Europe's top club prize in his playing days - has asserted that his former side Juventus are favourites to win this year’s edition of the Champions League, along with reigning champions Real Madrid.

Pirlo told Tuttosport, via Calciomercato.com: “Juventus are the favourites to win the Champions League together with Real Madrid.

Jamie McDonald/GettyImages

“You need three things to win the competition: a strong team, a good physical shape between March and April and a bit of luck."

While Juve and Real are Pirlo's favourites, he also tipped another trio of teams in the running.

He added: “After Juventus and Real Madrid, I think there are Manchester City, PSG and Barcelona.”

Pirlo’s exclusion of Liverpool from the reckoning comes as a surprise, given that the Reds eliminated Manchester City from the competition last season en route to the final, in which they were eventually beaten by the quality and experience of Real Madrid.

With Zinedine Zidane no longer at the helm of Madrid, however, and with Cristiano Ronaldo having now departed the Bernabeu for Turin, the favour has swung towards Ronaldo’s Juventus side following a summer of heavy investment.

Pirlo won the Champions League in 2003 and 2007, both times with AC Milan.