Manchester City and Chelsea are anxiously awaiting their destiny within the group stage 2021/22 of the Champions League, which takes place in Istanbul on Thursday evening (17.00 BST).
The 32 groups which have certified for the group stage have been divided into 4 pots with eight and one from every pot will go into every of the eight teams AH. Pot one consists of seeded golf equipment, and the opposite three pots are decided by UEFA’s membership coefficient rating.
Pot one is reserved for European cup holders or nationwide champions in Europe’s six finest home leagues. Chelsea take their place among the many prime seeds as Champions League holders, whereas City are there to win their newest Premier League title.
By being in pot one, City and Chelsea instantly keep away from Bayern Munich, Inter, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Lille and Sporting CP. But there are lots of different robust websites they will get.
Here’s a drop of which golf equipment the Premier League giants can draw in opposition to …
PSG’s summer season recruitment makes them an enormous menace / John Berry / Getty Images
Country safety prevents Chelsea or City from being drawn in opposition to every other Premier League membership at this stage of the competitors. This signifies that they solely have six doable opponents from pot two as a result of Manchester United and Liverpool are excluded.
Pot two is in all probability the hardest of the lot, in all probability greater than pot one, and never a single membership can be thought of favorable. Sevilla, maybe Borussia Dortmund, could possibly be the worst of a unhealthy bunch that additionally consists of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
PSG, now with Lionel Messi on board, are those most wanted to keep away from.
Potential golf equipment: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund
Best case state of affairs: Seville
In the worst case: Paris Saint Germain
Red Bull Salzburg might give a shock however is the weakest crew in pot three / Martin Rose / Getty Images
Pot three presents plenty of robust groups and a few lengthy potential away journeys.
The Portuguese duo Porto and Benfica ought to by no means be taken calmly at this degree, whereas Atalanta stay robust and RB Leipzig have established themselves as Champions League regulars.
Having to journey a number of hours east and again in the midst of the week to satisfy both Zenit St Petersburg or Shakhtar Donetsk wouldn’t be good, though the groups usually are not essentially that robust. Red Bull Salzburg should still include a shock however is in all probability the one who comes right here.
Potential golf equipment: Porto, Ajax, Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg, Benfica, Atalanta, Zenit St Petersburg
Best case state of affairs: Red Bull Salzburg
In the worst case: RB Leipzig
AC Milan are higher than their UEFA rating suggests / Marco Canoniero / Getty Images
The majority of the golf equipment in pot 4, the weakest within the draw, can be favorable as any crew with ambitions to go far within the competitors must be adequate to beat any of them.
There remains to be one journey issue, with Dynamo Kiev representing a protracted journey away. The similar goes for the debutants within the group sport Sheriff Tiraspol from Moldova, regardless that they’re objectively the weakest membership that has come this far. However, they shocked the typical qualifier Dinamo Zagreb within the qualifier.
AC Milan would in all probability be an important to keep away from, with its low rating the end result of a relative lack of significant European motion not too long ago. This is their first season within the Champions League since 2014 they usually have solely been within the Europa League for 3 of the final 5 years.
Potential golf equipment: Besiktas, Dynamo Kiev, Club Brugge, Young Boys, AC Milan, Malmö, Wolfsburg, Sheriff Tiraspol
Best case state of affairs: Malmö
In the worst case: AC Milan
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