Champions League Top Goalscorer Betting Odds Part 1

Lionel Messi is in the driver's seat for the Champions League Golden Boot this year according to the bookmakers and they're going to be pricing him as short as even money to beat out everybody else in the race to the most goals for this Champions League season.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE BET WITH WILLIAM HILL!

There is a lot to like about Messi's chances, but he's not actually the reigning top scorer this year. Much of the premise of him winning the Golden Boot is based on the assumption that Barcelona are going to win the Champions League Final itself.

As it currently stands, Cristiano Ronaldo and Burak Yilmaz are the outright leaders with six goals apiece in the Champions League. Messi sits at five goals alongside the eliminated Sporting Braga's Alex. Chelsea's Oscar also had five goals but Chelsea (along with Manchester City) failed to progress to the knock-out stages.

A sizable contingent of players sit on four goals and the majority of them remain in the competition – this is where most of the value in this market is going to be found. Which striker is the most instrumental to his teams efforts and which team looks like they could make it the furthest at this point? It's a very good question.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of Schalke its on four goals along with Robert Lewandowski, Kostas Mitroglu, Jonas, Soldado and Willian. Of them, only Kostas Mitroglu of Olympiakos, has been eliminated from the Champions League. Willian is being courted by some major European sides and his Shakhtar Donetsk team will be looking to make a big splash and win their tie against Dortmund.

A huge contingent of strikers sit on three goals and there are only a few here who would likely be able to amass a challenge for the golden boot if their side was able to make it to the finals or even semi-finals. One big match – one hat-trick – can drastically reshape the betting market. This is exacerbated in the later stages of the contest.