Extraordinary Ways to Guess the Winner of the Champions League Final

On June 10, the UEFA Champions League final of the 2022/2023 season will take place at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Manchester City and Inter Milan will meet in the eagerly anticipated game. This will be the first official meeting between the two teams in the entire history of their existence, which is more than 120 years.

Man City and Inter have met twice in friendly matches. In 2010, Inter won 3-0, and in 2011, Man City beat Inter with the same score.

The last Champions League final, where the English and Italian teams met, took place 18 years ago. Back in 2005, Liverpool won the Champions Cup after beating Milan in a penalty shootout.

The Champion-2023 is to be determined very soon. Months of qualifying matches and quarterfinals are over. The thoughts of the final football battle make fans of the Game of Millions around the world go crazy. Along with loyal fans, there are also those who place bets on sports. According to bookmakers, football accounts for more than a third of the world's betting. How can you predict the outcome of a landmark match? Here is an overview of the most insane ways to guess the champion.

Octopus

Paul the Octopus gained the title of ‘mystical sensation’ after successfully predicting the results of eight matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Its predictions were so popular that they were broadcast live by the Spanish TV channel RTVE;

Paul made his predictions by choosing one of two seashells that were in plastic containers marked with the flags of the countries whose teams were participating in the match.

Paul's prediction for the final game of the World Cup, where the Dutch and Spanish national teams met, also turned out to be true. Spain won in the final.

For his successful predictions, the oracle Paul also received his own cup. This is how the mollusk was honored by the staff of the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, where he lived. Unfortunately, that same year Paul ‘stepped back’ from the official oracle business and later died of old age followed by hundreds of his intuitive invertebrate followers appearing in the world.

For example the Japanese octopus named Rabio accurately predicted all the results of the Japanese national team at the 2018 World Cup. However, shortly before Japan dropped out of the tournament after the match with Belgium, Japanese fisherman Kisuo Abe, who caught the mollusk, decided to sell the oracle at the local fish market.

Totem Zoo

A cow, a boar, an elephant, a dog, a goat, otters, seagulls, a parrot, a panda, and a guinea pig – these animals oracle could make a solid zoo. It is difficult to explain this trust in fauna. Perhaps the roots go back to the times of Ancient Greece, where it was believed that “the gods speak out through animals”.

During Euro 2012 championship, Ukraine and Poland had official predictors – the hog Funtyk and the elephant Citta.

A 380-kilogram soothsayer hog named Funtyk lived in the fan zone during the Euro 2012 Championship and made  predictions about the outcome of matches. Before each Euro football match, he was offered two plates with the same food but different national flags. Funtyk had to choose one of them, but he usually chose both because he had a good appetite. A year after working as an oracle, the animal had to be put on a diet to avoid the negative effects of obesity.

In Poland, a 33-year-old elephant named Citta also predicted the outcome of matches. She gained the reputation of oracle after winning a tough selection process, competing with a donkey and a parrot. During the test, the elephant chose fruit with the Chelsea flag and was able to predict the winner of the Champions League, thus proving her ‘psychic’ abilities. During Euro 2012, Citta chose fruits with the flags of the teams of the upcoming match.

Germany has a whole tradition of sports predictors. The most popular among German oracles is the runaway cow Yvonne. In 2011, Yvonne managed to escape from her owners just as she was about to be taken to the butcher. The cow managed to leave the herd on the road from Austria to Bavaria and break through the electric fence. The fugitive was hiding in the forest for more than three months. She was eventually caught as a result of a large police search operation. Afterwards, Yvonne was given shelter by an animal protection organization and settled on a farm in Lower Bavaria. The cow became a real sensation in the world press and a favorite of the German public. The animal, which probably somehow managed to sense danger and escape, avoiding certain death, was entrusted to make predictions about the winners of the Euro 2012 matches.

Nellie the Elephant from the Serengeti Park in Germany also became famous for her soccer skills and ability to predict the outcome of matches. However, she made her predictions in an original way – by kicking the ball into one of the two nets marked with the flag of the participating team.

Egg-smashing Oracle

This year, on the eve of the final match between Manchester City and Intern Milan, an egg-smashing oracle made a splash online. Unlike the classical ‘mystical soothsayers’, this oracle is a representative of the Homo sapiens species.

On his TikTok account, a user known as @lavezzi1893 correctly predicted every Champions League match this season, starting with the quarterfinals. The football fan's videos went viral.

A man makes predictions with eggs. In the video, he simply knocks eggs with the teams’ logos against each other, while cooking scrambled eggs.

On the eve of the quarterfinals last month, the football oracle collected a bunch of eggs, each with the logo of one of the teams remaining in the competition. The TikToker filmed himself smashing the egg shells together. The egg whose shell remained intact was the winner.

Amazingly, the ‘egg soothsayer’ correctly called Real Madrid's win over Chelsea, as well as Man City's win over Bayern Munich, AC Milan's over Napoli, and Inter Milan's over Benfica. His predictions about the semifinals also came true. The eggs ‘showed’ that Pep Guardiola's team will meet Inter in the final. However, there's something that might upset the Man City fans.

Despite the fact that bookmakers, experts, and fans are betting on Manchester City to win and hoping that the English team will finally manage to go all the way and win the Champions League. The egg-smashing soothsayer from TikTok has an alternative theory and claims that the eggs predict disappointment for the English club's fans.

City fans will be upset when they find out that Italian side Internazionale won the crazy egg prediction.

Now, take a guess, ladies and gentlemen! )