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Not easy but it’s not a group of death. That falls to Viktoria Plzen.
And so, all that is left is to work out the fixtures. Because of the World Cup being held in November, the group stages will be complete early and wil resume in February, where we hope City will be still taking part.
Thanks for joining me, now go dust off your passports and get flights booked.
That’s the draw complete. City face Sevilla, Copenhagen ad Borussia Dortmund. Erling Haaland on his way back to Germany to face his old club
So that’s City’s group complete. Now, Brugge are drawn, and they face group B, with Porto, Leverkusen and Atletico.
Rangers are out. I fear for them...
They face Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli.
Dinamo Zagreb are out. They face group E. They Face Chelsea, Milan and Salzburg
Maccabi Haifa...group H. they face Juventus, PSG and Benfica which means...ouch
Viktoria Plzen face Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Inter Milan
Montage over and here we go. This will complete the groups, then the fixtures will no doubt be as convoluted as the draw.
First out...
Celtic. Scottish champions. They face...group F with Real, Shahktar and Leipzig.
Marseille can’t face City so they take on Sporting, Spurs and Frankfurt.
Copenhagen are next out, Danish champions, could go into City’s group...
AND THEY DO TOO!!!
And here comes pot 4. They also contain champions. have I mentioned that?
It just had to be, didn’t it? Erling Haaland going back to Dortmund with City. For whatever reason, group G was the only option for Dortmund. Why???
Bayer Leverkusen join Atletico and Porto.
Sporting will face Frankfurt and Spurs.
Shahktar go into group F with Real and RB Leipzig.
Finally, Inter Milan will go into group C with Bayern and Barca. Tasty
Okay, pot 3. Some actual champions in here...
Napoli are first out. They can’t go into our group for some reason... They face Group A with Ajax and Liverpool.
Next out Salzburg. This’ll be interesting. They get...
Group E with AC Milan and Chelsea
Now for Benfica. They could play City but get PSG and Juventus
Borussia Dortmund go into G
So, City face Sevilla and next out is Barca. They face Bayern Munich.
Chelsea will face AC Milan
Porto face Atletico
First out is RB Leipzig. And they go into group F with Real Madrid
Juventus are next. And they will face either City or PSG and it is
PSG
Next out Spurs who can’t face City but go into the group with Eintracht Frankfurt
Now, Liverpool, who also can’t face City but they face Ajax
Sevilla are next. They could go into City’s group here...
AND THEY DO
Here’s where it gets silly with Pot 2. City can’t face Liverpool, Spurs or Chelsea
A little montage to pot 1 and we’re off. First out is
Ajax followed by Porto who go into group B
Group C starts with Bayern and Eintracht Frankfurt go into group D
AC Milan go into group E while group F sees Real Madrid
And the mightly blues go into group G.
Lastly, group H contains PSG
Okay, now we’re ready, now the very convoluted way of doing things has been explained.
Nope, we’re going through the pots. Wonder if they’ll highlight there are no champions in pot 2?
Are we ready to go?
Yaya being asked what City need to win the CL. He didn’t really answer the question, just saying we have a chance. Now being asked about his job at Spurs
Seriously? A huge introduction for bringing a trophy onto a stage? Can they not just get on with it? They love to draw it out, don’t they? However, uncle Yaya is here
Underway. Some footage from last season and now for the waffle
Finally, Pot 4 contains Rangers, who edged past PSV Eindhoven, current Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, Marseille, Current Scottish champions Celtic, current Danish champions FC Copenhagen, current Czech champions Viktoria Plzen, current Belgian champions Club Brugges and current Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa.
Six crowned champions that can’t get ahead of teams that haven’t won their respective leagues. There’s something wrong with this picture but can’t quite fathom what it is...
Pot 3 contains RB Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund, rling Haaland’s former clubs, Inter Milan and Napoli provide the Italian threat while Benfica and Sporting complete Portugal’s representation.
And who can forget Shahktar Donetsk? They have been a great team to play against and there’s a chance we can draw them again.
Salzburg are the current champions in Austria, and they sit in Pot 3
Of the eight teams in Pot 2, City can only face five. Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico, Sevilla and Leipzig are all possible opponents. The rest of the group is made up of Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs.
Interesting that none of the teams in pot 2 are current champions in their respective leagues.
Sevilla last won La Liga in the 1945/46 season, Spurs last won the first division in the 1960/61 season while Leipzig have never won the German league. Yet here they are...
A reminder of the teams in Pot 1. As well as City, Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, PSG, Porto and Ajax make the top set.
This is City’s 12th consecutive season in the Champions League. Our record stands at
W58 D19 L27
Not bad for little ol’ City
It’s back!!!
The Champions League draw is here and we find out which teams Manchester City will be facing this season.
The blues missed out on a place in last year’s final after losing 3-1 to eventual champions Real Madrid, and the faithful will be hoping to win the competition for the first time.
But first, City will have to navigate around the group stage and we’ll soon find out if it’s a favourable draw (highly unlikely) or a group of death (extremely likely, literally if we draw Atletico).
Stay with us as we bring you all the build-up from Switzerland.