With everyone eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s Champions League draw, Josh Lawless takes a look at the best and worst case scenario’s for City.
Pot 1:
PSV Eindhoven would surely be the ideal team from pot 1 that City would like to face. Ordinarily, this pot consists of many of the European heavyweights – with the new revamped seeding system seeing last year’s league winners all placed in pot 1.
That means that Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain are all potential opponents. PSV would likely present a considerably easier challenge, with last season’s Eredivisie winners dented by the sales of star players Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay to English clubs.
City would fancy themselves against both Benfica and Andre Villas-Boas’ Zenit St Petersburg but PSV would be the best draw from the top pot for the Blues.
Pot 3:
City are of course in the secondary pot after finishing as runners up last season and while that does give them an advantage of sorts, there are still plenty of teams in pot three that could pose a threat.
Shakhtar are always dangerous opposition while City would likely prefer not to come up against Europa League winners Sevilla. There’s the possibility of once again facing off with AS Roma and an early reunion with Edin Dzeko, so City might not be too fussed about that one.
However I would say that Olympiakos would be the best pick for Pellegrini’s men here and would be a team City would not be worried about coming up against. The same could be said for Galatasaray, who are not a great side on paper, but still have an unbelievably daunting atmosphere that could hinder any side.
Pot 4:
In the fourth and final pot, there are still some potential banana skins for City. Borussia Monchengladbach, under the tutelage of Lucian Favre are typically a tough side as are Wolfsburg whether or not Kevin De Bruyne is playing in green for the rest of this season. Perhaps after their woes against Stuttgart in pre-season, City might not be too pleased about coming up against a Bundesliga side.
Moreover, Malmo, after their win over Celtic, will pose an interesting obstacle so there lies a team that City might want avoid.
Minnows Astana and BATE Borisov would appeal most to City, while Belgium outfit Gent wouldn’t be a bad team for City to face.
Best possible draw:
PSV, City, Olympiakos, BATE Borisov.
Worst possible draw:
Barcelona, City, Shakhtar, Wolfsburg.
What draw you want to see City get for the group stages? Tweet your thoughts to @ReadManCity.
