The draw for the Champions\u2019 League group stage will be made at 5pm on Thursday. Real Madrid made history last season by becoming the first team to win back-to-back Champions League titles and Zinedine Zidane’s men have their eye on a hat-trick. They will face stiff competition from the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and PSG, while Chelsea and Manchester United have returned to the stage after a brief hiatus.<\/p>\n
If Liverpool manage to overcome Hoffenheim in their qualification fixture, there will be 6 British teams competing in the famous competition. In the lead up to the draw, we are looking at the best potential group for each of the British teams, as well as the \u201cgroup of death\u201d each fan will be praying to avoid.<\/p>\n
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The English champions have the slight advantage of being in Pot 1 with the other European champions. However, Pot 2 appears just as daunting as Pot 1 in this year\u2019s competition. The best and worst scenarios for Chelsea are listed below.<\/p>\n
Favoured group on paper:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Chelsea Group of death:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Chelsea <\/p>\n Manchester United are back in the Champions league for the first time under Mourinho. The Red Devils are in Pot 2 and will be hoping for a good outing in this years competition with the likes of Pogba, Lukaku and De Gea all expected to perform. Their task to qualify for the knockout rounds could vary from a walk in the park (on paper) to an incredibly tough ask.<\/p>\n Favoured group on paper:<\/strong> Group of Death:<\/strong> Pep Guardiola will be hoping for an improvement on last years Quarter-Final exit to Monaco this season. The Citizens have been drawn in some challenging groups in recent years and they will be hoping to avoid another “group of death” in the upcoming draw.<\/p>\n Favoured group on paper<\/strong> Group of death:<\/strong> <\/p>\n The Champions league was a forgettable experience for Spurs last year in an otherwise successful season. Pochettinos men finished 3rd in a relatively favourable group involving Bayern Leverkusen, CSKA and Monaco. They struggled to perform at Wembley where they will again be playing their home fixtures. Sitting in Pot 3, Tottenham could find themselves with a much harder task to qualify this year and will be praying for a favourable draw once again.<\/p>\n Favoured group on paper:<\/strong> Group of death:<\/strong> Assuming Liverpool overcome Hoffenheim in tonight’s qualification game, Klopp will be paying close attention to the group stage draw on Thursday. Liverpool last took part in the elite competition in 2014\/15 and were eliminated during the group stages after failing to beat Basil and losing twice to Real Madrid. Like Spurs, Liverpool face a potentially daunting task should they qualify and there will be many people on Merseyside hoping lady luck will benefit them come 5pm Thursday.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Porto
\n\u2022 Anderlecht
\n\u2022 Qaraba\u011f<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Barcelona
\n\u2022 Napoli
\n\u2022 Leipzig<\/p>\nManchester United<\/h2>\n
\n\u2022 Spartak Moscow
\n\u2022 Man United
\n\u2022 Basel
\n\u2022 Maribor<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Real Madrid
\n\u2022 Man United
\n\u2022 Napoli
\n\u2022 Leipzig<\/p>\nManchester City<\/h2>\n
\n\u2022 Shakhtar Donetsk
\n\u2022 Manchester City
\n\u2022 Besiktas
\n\u2022 Steaua Bucharest<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Real Madrid
\n\u2022 Manchester City
\n\u2022 Napoli
\n\u2022 Leipzig<\/p>\nTottenham<\/h2>\n
\n\u2022 Spartak Moscow
\n\u2022 Porto
\n\u2022 Tottenham
\n\u2022 Qaraba\u011f<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Real Madrid
\n\u2022 PSG
\n\u2022 Tottenham
\n\u2022 Leipzig<\/p>\nLiverpool<\/h2>\n