2017/2018 UEFA Champions League group stage draw happens today.
- James. M
- Aug 24, 2017
- 2 min read
Look away Arsenal fans! It’s D day, and tonight we find out who we will face in this season’s Champions League group stages.
The draw takes place at 7:00 PM EAT in Monaco following the Play-off round that ended last night where Liverpool among others sealed their return to the Champions League proper.
It’s the competition we have sorely missed and the fact that we lifted the Europa League, the reward is sweet. We pit ourselves with the best in Europe.
So who could we face?
Well, United have been placed in pot 2 where we are likely to come up against current Champions Real Madrid, German champions Bayern Munich or Italian champions Juventus.
Judging by our European form last year, and the explosive start this season we don’t really care who face, after-all, to be the best you have to beat the best.
The 32 teams in the competition will be drawn into 8 groups of 4 with the games kicking off in September 12th and 13th and ending in the midweek of 5th and 6th December.
United are looking to win the Champions League for the first time since 2008
According to UEFA rules, two teams from the same country cannot be paired together in the group stage and that's why we can’t face Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham or Manchester City. In fact, the latter is also in pot 2 together with United.
Pot one contains the holders and champions of the highest-ranked European nations, while the three remaining pots are seeded by UEFA's co-efficient rankings.
Here are the splits in full:
Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, Juventus, Monaco, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Spartak Moscow.
Pot 2: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, FC Porto, Sevilla.
Pot 3: Anderlecht, Besiktas, FC Basel, Liverpool, Napoli, Olympiakos, Roma, Tottenham Hotspur.
Pot 4: APOEL Nicosia, Celtic, CSKA Moscow, Feyenoord, FK Qarabag, NK Maribor, RB Leipzig, Sporting Lisbon.
We will keep you posted in our social media channels on how the draw goes and also the times for our group stage fixtures.
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