Manchester City Brace for Champions League Drama: New Format, New Challenges, New Rivals!
Get ready for an exhilarating Champions League season as Manchester City faces a fresh challenge with UEFA’s revolutionary new format.
This Thursday, Manchester City will discover their opponents in the UEFA Champions League draw. Unlike previous years, where clubs were divided into eight groups, the tournament now features a single 36-team league. Every team will play eight games in this high-stakes, all-or-nothing battle to advance to the knockout stages.
As the reigning Premier League champions, City enters the competition in Pot 1, a coveted position shared by European powerhouses such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Barcelona. The teams in this pot won’t be facing each other just yet, but the tension is already building as fans speculate on the potential matchups.
This new format changes everything. Instead of home-and-away fixtures against specific teams, Manchester City will face eight randomly drawn opponents—four at home and four away. They can’t play against other English teams or more than two clubs from the same country in the group stage. For example, if Paris Saint-Germain and Lille are drawn against City, Monaco would be off-limits.
City’s goal is clear: finish in the top eight and secure a direct route to the last 16. However, finishing between 9th and 24th will mean a two-legged play-off to advance, adding an extra layer of drama and uncertainty.
Pep Guardiola’s side will be keen to avoid that scenario, especially with the league phase extending into January due to the additional fixtures. But no matter how the draw pans out, the competition promises to be more intense and unpredictable than ever.
For fans eagerly awaiting the draw, it all kicks off at 5 PM (BST) on Thursday. As the football world watches, City will find out which eight teams stand between them and Champions League glory.
Here’s a breakdown of the pots in this year’s draw:
Pot 1:
- Manchester City
- Bayern Munich
- Real Madrid
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Liverpool
- Inter
- Borussia Dortmund
- RB Leipzig
- Barcelona
Pot 2:
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Atletico Madrid
- Atalanta
- Juventus
- Benfica
- Club Brugge
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- AC Milan
Pot 3:
- Feyenoord
- Sporting CP
- PSV Eindhoven
- Dinamo Zagreb
- RB Salzburg
- Lille
- Crvena Zvezda
- Young Boys
- Celtic
Pot 4:
- Slovan Bratislava
- AS Monaco
- Sparta Praha
- Aston Villa
- Bologna
- Girona
- Stuttgart
- Sturm Graz
- Stade Brestois
With the stage set and the stakes higher than ever, this Champions League season is sure to be one for the history books.
