Our defence of the Champions League begins on Thursday 17:00 BST with the group stage draw. Some very interesting groups are possible this season and we could potentially find ourselves in a group of death.

Pot 1

FC Barcelona

Manchester United

Chelsea

Bayern Munich

Real Madrid

Arsenal

Porto

AC Milan

Pot 2

Valencia

Benfica

Shakhtar Donetsk

Zenit St. Petersburg

Schalke

Manchester City

Dynamo Kiev

Braga

Pot 3

Olimpiacos

Ajax

Basel

Panathanaikos

Anderlecht

Juventus

FC Copenhagen

Spartak Moscow

Pot 4

Paris Saint-Germain

Galatasaray

Celtic

Borussia Dortmund

BATE Borisov

Dinamo Zagreb

Montpellier

Nordsjaelland

How the f**k do Man City get in Pot 2, only their second year in it and they didn't even get out of the group stages last time ?

Pot 4 is much stronger than pot 3. Apart from Juventus I'm not worried who we draw from that pot, so watch us get Juve.

Anyway, I'll take Braga, Copenhagen and Nordjaelland please.

Agreed Snedger, its quite scary that we could end up in a group with Dortmund, Juventus and Valencia this year.

We fear absolutely no one. Bring on the group of death.

Once we wipe everyone out in that group we will crush the rest

Would love for Montpellier to be in our group, fancy a trip to the south of France.

That is definitely the worst case scenario Castiel. And as City saw last year, it can happen. Thing is though, this year I feel confident we would still qualify from that group.

Good point of Peckham Blue's, how have City got in pot 2 when Dortmund are in 4? I'm pretty sure Dortmund must have a better record in Europe in recent years. Didn't they even win it not so long ago?

Edited August 28, 201213 yr by Snedger

How the f**k do Man City get in Pot 2, only their second year in it and they didn't even get out of the group stages last time ?

Yeah I don't get that either.... who did they nosh off to get into pot 2?! They have no European pedigree what so ever, they were dumped out of the group stages last year and that is it.

I'm pretty sure Dortmund must have a better record in Europe in recent years. Didn't they even win it not so long ago?

I think only the last five years' success counts and Dortmund won UCL in 1997. Then again, that still doesn't explain why City are in pot 2. Maybe their "success" in Europa League earns them points...

Pot 4 is much stronger than pot 3. Apart from Juventus I'm not worried who we draw from that pot, so watch us get Juve.

Anyway, I'll take Braga, Copenhagen and Nordjaelland please.

Would rather not face Braga. Russian teams are awful in europe so I wouldn't mind drawing them.

That is definitely the worst case scenario Castiel. And as City saw last year, it can happen. Thing is though, this year I feel confident we would still qualify from that group.

Good point of Peckham Blue's, how have City got in pot 2 when Dortmund are in 4? I'm pretty sure Dortmund must have a better record in Europe in recent years. Didn't they even win it not so long ago?

And ahead of juve????

Agreed Snedger, its quite scary that we could end up in a group with Dortmund, Juventus and Valencia this year.

heeey

It's Champions League....We beat them

Pot 1

FC Barcelona

Manchester United

Chelsea

Bayern Munich

Real Madrid

Arsenal

Porto

AC Milan

Pot 2

Valencia

Benfica

Shakhtar Donetsk

Zenit St. Petersburg

Schalke

Manchester City

Dynamo Kiev

Braga

Pot 3

Olimpiacos

Ajax

Basel

Panathanaikos

Anderlecht

Juventus

FC Copenhagen

Spartak Moscow

Pot 4

Paris Saint-Germain

Galatasaray

Celtic

Borussia Dortmund

BATE Borisov

Dinamo Zagreb

Montpellier

Nordsjaelland

Wot, no Tottenham ?

When's the draw?

Some tough teams in the lower pots. Juve, PSG, Dortmund would all be ones to avoid.

But lets be honest and say if we want to win it, we've got to beat the best ones, so we might as well star somewhere.

City in pot 2 with Dortmund in pot 4? Wow, that's interesting to say the least...

I'm sure we're going to see some pretty tough teams regardless with our draw. We can get through. We WILL get through.

http://soccernet.esp...-battle?cc=5739

This link may help explain the position of some teams in some pots, heard that Juve were always gonna be moved down a pot anyway to pot 3 because of the match fixing scandals surrounding Conte last year which I think is ridiculous and probably untrue because it was when he was in charge at Siena and nothing to do with Juve.

How incredible would it be to retain our Champions League Crown back at Wembley in May next year?

I think the draw takes place on the 30 August in Monaco.

Edited August 28, 201213 yr by CFC-KD

Would rather not face Braga. Russian teams are awful in europe so I wouldn't mind drawing them.

But it's much closer than Moscow, their stadium is fantastic and the weather will be nicer. Maybe the ideal draw in terms of quality of opposition and good handy travelling would be Braga, Anderlecht (close, not too expensive and great beer) and Montpellier (not too far and again decent weather).

Dynamo, Copenhagen and Nordsjajdjdaellaan please.

I'd love Celtic and Ajax. There would be thousands of Blues in and around the area.

Although I fear trouble if we get Celtic, especially given what's happened to Rangers

Agreed Snedger, its quite scary that we could end up in a group with Dortmund, Juventus and Valencia this year.

Or even PSG instead of dortmund. Scary stuff.

As for city Does that national co-efficient thing come into play maybe?

I am right in thinking we can draw Man City? We were in the same group as Liverpool a few years ago I think.

I am right in thinking we can draw Man City? We were in the same group as Liverpool a few years ago I think.

We can't come up against English opposition until the quarters I believe.

Or even PSG instead of dortmund. Scary stuff.

No matter who our group opponents are, all 3 of them will think... "oh no - we got the European champions - sh1t !!"

I want these two groups to happen, just for fun and a repeat performance of last year for the Manchester clubs :)

Group A:

Barcelona

City

Juventus

PSG

Group B:

United

Valencia

Spartak Moscov

Dortmund

Hopefully a easy group for us so we can go through early and rest players etc.