Manchester City are set to discover their Champions League group stage opponents for the coming season, with some potentially difficult ties awaiting them.
As Premier League champions, City are top seeds and will therefore avoid the Champions League holders Real Madrid, Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt and champions of Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and the Netherlands. However, they could still be paired with the likes of Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan as they look to improve on final and semi-final defeats in the last two seasons.
Alternatively, the seedings for the draw present some potentially simpler opponents, which could prove useful given the congested fixture list this season due to the World Cup in November.
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Rather than being played every two or three weeks between September and December, this year's group stage fixtures will be played in three back-to-back midweek groups between September and November - directly before or after some testing Premier League fixtures against Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.
A look at the group seedings shows that City will definitely avoid Real Madrid, Frankfurt, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Ajax from Pot One, along with Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham in Pot Two as teams from the same association cannot meet until the quarter-final stage.
From Pot Two, that leaves possible pairings with Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico, Sevilla, and RB Leipzig. There are no restrictions in Pot Three for City, so they could face any of Dortmund, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Napoli, Benfica, Sporting or Bayer Leverkusen.
Pot Four, which was finalised this week, could set up a tantalising clash with Celtic, another trip to Belgium to face Club Brugge, or clashes with Marseille, Viktoria Plzen, Maccabi Haifa, Rangers, FC Copenhagen or Dinamo Zagreb.
So of those possible opponents, we've looked at the best and worst scenarios to come from the draw for City later on Thursday.
Best possible draw
RB Leipzig are the lowest ranked side in Pot Two, and City beat them comfortably last season in the opening game, despite underperforming in the final game having already won the group. Leipzig would be a preferable opponent, although they may be stronger having re-signed Timo Werner, so maybe Sevilla are the better option from this group.
RB Salzburg are probably the easiest opponent in Pot Three on paper, with familiar opponents Shakhtar Donetsk more of an unknown quantity due to the disruption they have faced due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In Pot Four, Club Brugge were swept aside last season and would offer a short flight as well. Viktoria Plzen or Maccabi Haifa would also be targeted for six points, as would the two Glasgow sides.
In terms of travel, a trip to Israel wouldn't be ideal with so many games in a short space of time, so perhaps Celtic would be the best option from Pot Four, with the best group in terms of the shortest distance to travel being Leipzig, Salzburg and Celtic or Rangers.
City's best draw scenario: RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg, Club Brugge
Worst possible draw
City played Barcelona on Wednesday in a friendly and could be drawn against them on Thursday, although their current predicament might make them one of the more preferable opponents in Pot Two. A trip to Juventus wouldn't be easy, although surely after last season's bad-tempered quarter-final battles the side to avoid is Atletico Madrid .
Pot Three could throw up a tricky test, too, with Borussia Dortmund possibly providing Erling Haaland an early return to Germany, while Inter Milan and Napoli wouldn't be straightforward either. City would fancy their chances of beating any side in Pot Four, although Marseille could be a test in a difficult atmosphere.
In terms of travel, Sevilla is the furthest option in Pot Two, and Maccabi Haifa furthest in Pot Four. Shakhtar are having to play their group fixtures at the home of Legia Warsaw, so wouldn't be the furthest away in Pot Three, although may provide a more complicated experience than a trip to Benfica, Sporting or Napoli.
City's worst draw scenario: Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Marseille.
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