--- title: "Champions League Draw: A Guide" canonical: "https://readmanutd.com/2015/08/27/champions-league-draw-guide/" type: "post" language: "en-GB" section: "Features" published: "2015-08-27T11:12:21Z" modified: "2015-08-27T11:12:21Z" --- # Champions League Draw: A Guide On Wednesday night, Manchester United sealed their much anticipated returned to the UEFA Champions League with a 0-4 (1-7 aggregate) win over Belgian side Club Brugge. This ensured that United will feature in the group stages of the competition again, having missed out last season after finishing 7th in the Premier League at the end of 2013/14 in what was a dismal first season without Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm. United’s last match in the Champions League proper was one against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the competition; ironically, with Bastian Schweinsteiger wearing Bavarian colours and scoring for the visitors. ![Alex Livesey/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/481947589.jpg) Bastian will now relish the prospect of playing against the club he devoted most of his life to so far… so let’s take a look at the pots and potential groups United could find themselves in following Thursday evening’s draw (16:45 BST – live on BT Sport). **POT ONE** For the first time in the competition, pot one is based not on UEFA co-efficient but on triumph in the previous season. The eight teams in the pot are the ones who won the league in Europe’s “best” eight leagues: *Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern München, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, Zenit St. Petersburg, PSV Eindhoven.* ![Matthias Hangst/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/476356944.jpg) Along with their domestic league and cup, Barcelona won last year’s Champions League. Their front three of Neymar, Suarez and Messi is to be feared by all. Chelsea and Bayern Munich are also recent winners of the competition, with Juventus having played in last season’s final. Paris Saint-Germain beat United 3-1 in the International Champions Cup during pre-season last month. Memphis would relish a tie with PSV, having joined United from the Dutch champions this summer. **POT TWO** The shake-up of the pots means that pot two is also a very powerful set of teams, including Manchester United: *Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Porto, Arsenal, **Man. United**, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Man. City* ![Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/485185402.jpg) With Real, Atletico and Valencia all unable to be drawn with Barcelona, there is an increased chance that United could end up in a group with the Catalan giants – and of course, United, City and Arsenal won’t be drawn against Chelsea in the group stages. **POT THREE** This pot is full of tricky but negotiable ties – the long-distance away trips are the ones we’d want to avoid *Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo Kyiv, Olympiakos, CSKA Moskva, Galatasaray, Roma* ![Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/484030502.jpg) Roma were to be in pot four but were moved to this pot following the elimination of FC Basel. Alongside the Italian giants, the trips to Ukraine, Russia and Turkey are the most difficult; they could certainly all be beaten by Untied but they would be tense affairs. One point worthy of note is that due to current political tensions, Russian teams cannot face Ukranian teams. **POT FOUR** This pot has always been the “minnows”, of which there are a few here – although the two German sides could easily be in pot two if it weren’t for their low co-efficient over the last five years. *BATE Borisov, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Gent, Malmö, Astana* Malmo dispatched of Celtic to progress to this stage so will not be pushovers – Tel-Aviv is a lengthy trip and BATE put in some brilliant performances last season so even the “easier” teams are to be feared to a certain extent. ![Steve Welsh/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/484730178.jpg) **THE ‘EASIEST’ GROUP WE COULD DRAW** *PSV Eindhoven, **Manchester United**, Olympiakos, Gent.* Of the eight league winners, PSV are arguably the least threatening, having lost Memphis Depay (who to? I wonder…) and Giorginio Wijnaldum (to Newcastle) this summer. I’d rather come up against them than the likes of Messi, Muller or Matuidi. Olympiakos gave us a tough time in the round of 16 back in 2013/14, but only because of what I can honestly say is the worst 90 minutes of football I’ve ever seen our beautiful club play in the first leg. A Robin van Persie hat-trick in the second leg saw us progress and I’m sure we’d be much more efficient this time around than to only scrape a 3-2 aggregate win. ![Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/479558161.jpg) Of the smaller teams, despite Astana being less of a name, I’d say Gent are the preferable opponents – being from Belgium, a place where we have literally just been reminded that we tend to have great success, it’s a short and not too daunting trip for the away tie. **THE ‘HARDEST’ GROUP WE COULD DRAW** *Barcelona, **Manchester United** , Roma, Wolfsburg.* It goes without saying that Barcelona would be one to avoid for anyone – although you have to beat the best to be the best. It would be ‘worse’ to draw Barca than Bayern, because it would mean we can get a German team from pot four – Wolfsburg. ![David Rogers/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmanutd.com/readmanutd/2015/08/482122824.jpg) Roma are hardly a side in decline or anything of the sort; although a match against them would bring back fond memories of the 7-1 Champions League demolition of the Italian outfit. Radja Nainggolan would certainly be a player to fear for United. Wolfsburg may or may not hold onto Kevin de Bruyne this summer – but either way they have a brilliant squad. Players such as Vierinha, Rodriguez and Dost are all brilliant players with good experience. **THE DRAW** The draw takes place in Monaco at 16:45 BST – with Peter Schmeichel one of the hosts. It’s usually a drawn-out affair so make sure you’re comfy! If you can’t watch it, keep an eye on our Twitter feed @ReadManUtd; we’ll bring you live updates!