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The UEFA Champions League is just around the corner, with the group-stage draw set to happen on the 30th of August in Monaco. Real Madrid come off the back of their third consecutive Champions League title, while Juventus are without the services of Gianluigi Buffon, who decided to pen a contract with PSG in July.
Barcelona's new captain Lionel Messi openly expressed his ambitions to reclaim the prestigious trophy, while Jose Mourinho looks to bring back United's former glory. All of the above statements only exaggerate the level of intensity and the amount of excitement this new season will bring to us, so before we begin, let's have a look at everything we need to know before the draw on Thursday.
Date: August 30th, 2018
Time: 18:00 GMT (22:30 IST)
Venue: the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
Where to Watch: https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/ (live streaming)
Number of Teams: 32
Defending Champions: Real Madrid CF ( 🇪🇸)
Most Titles: Real Madrid CF (13)
Location of the Final: Estadio Wanda Metropolitano (Madrid, ESP)
Pot 1
Pot 1 consists of the champions of the top six leagues in Europe according to their UEFA ranking along with the winners of the previous Champions League and Europa League. Consistent domestic league winners such as Bayern Munich, PSG, and Juventus find themselves in Pot 1 yet again and are the favorites to top their respective groups.
The three most followed Spanish teams of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and FC Barcelona are looking to continue the country's European dominance as fans expect them to seamlessly reach the latter stage of the tournament.
Real Madrid did lose star player Cristiano Ronaldo to fellow pot members Juventus, who have spent an enormous amount of money to bring in players like João Cancelo and Douglas Costa to the club.
The 2015 finalists are shaping up for another lengthy European campaign after narrowly falling short ever since. Ronaldo is expected to form a fearsome front three with the aforementioned Costa and Argentinian sensation Paulo Dybala.
Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow recently won the Russian Premier League, and have bolstered their squad with the loan signings of Benedikt Höwedes and PSG midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City will naturally want to improve their record in the Champions League, and the addition of Riyad Mahrez on the right wing means that they have one of the fiercest attacking three in the competition, something that has proved vital for the previous winner's campaign.
Click on Next to view Pot 2
Pot 2
Pot 2 of this Champions League consists of the Portuguese and Ukrainian League winners, the 3rd place team in the Bundesliga, and both the second and third place of both the Premier League and the Serie A. Household names like Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, and SSC Napoli all make their way into Pot 2 after failing to lift their respective domestic titles last season.
New boss Carlo Ancelotti will lead Napoli on another exciting Champion's League run, while Jose Mourinho hopes that his Red Devils can replicate the same success he found with FC Porto in 2004. Porto, led by Sérgio Conceição had a relatively tough group last season but managed to finish second and advanced to the knock out stage before falling short to Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool FC.
Liverpool, who finished 4th in the league last season, have been highlighted in red as their pot has not been finalized. The Merseyside club can go to either Pot 2 or Pot 3 based on the playoff results but are guaranteed a position in the group stages of the league.
Their defence has been heavily reinforced in the past couple of seasons with the acquisitions of Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, and Andrew Robertson, and are genuine title contenders on paper this season.
Brazilian holding midfielder Fred left Shakhtar Donetsk for Manchester United this summer, and the club has a huge void to fill now. The Ukranian champions are regular contenders in the Champions League but have not managed to make it to the business stages of the competition.
Monchi has had a powerful influence in Roma's transfer ever since his arrival and brought exciting new youngsters like Justin Kluivert to the biggest stage. After impressing last season, especially with that 3 - 3 draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, keep an eye out on La Lupa (The She-Wolf) this campaign.
Pot 3
Pot 3 consist of some very entertaining teams. French clubs Monaco and Lyon, who are known names in the Champions League, German club FC Schalke 04, Marcelino's Los Che and Russian club CSKA Moscow will all be drawn into different groups from this pot.
Domenico Tedesco is on a mission to rebuild Schalke after seeing many of their star players leave the club for free, while both Monaco and Lyon are looking to be the first French club to lift this prestigious title. Moscow manager Viktor Goncharenko would be looking forward to the new season even though World Cup star Aleksandr Golovin left the club for Monaco.
Spanish club Valencia CF and Czech winners Viktoria Plzen have been highlighted in Blue above because both those clubs can either be in Pot 3 or Pot 4 based on the playoff's outcome and the distribution of teams in each group. Like Liverpool, both clubs are, however, guaranteed a spot in the group stage of the league.
Meanwhile, Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam and Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv have been highlighted in red because they are currently contesting in the playoffs to secure a position in the group stage.
In their first playoff game, Ajax thumped Dynamo 3 - 1, with goals scored by Hakim Ziyech and Dusan Tadic at the Johan Cruyff Arena. The winner of this playoff round on aggregate is expected to join Pot 3.
Note that the decision on which Pot the playoff winners go to are not finalized, and so either the winner of PSV Eindhoven ( 🇳🇱) vs. BATE Borisov ( 🇧🇾) or the winner of Red Bull Salzburg ( 🇦🇹) vs. Red Star Belgrade ( 🇷🇸) could also join Pot 3.
Pot 4
Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Internazionale and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim are going to be drawn to their respective groups from Pot 4. The Belgian champions haven't quite made their mark in the Champions League yet, with only 33 wins in 90 matches, a paltry 37% win rate. Internazionale, however, was quite the dominant force in the early 200's and even won the treble under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho in 2010.
Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray, who boasted big names such as Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba in the past, would look to reach the knockout stages after seeing their local rivals Besiktas JK rise above them in recent years, while Julian Naglesmann knows his team are set to face a challenging group and hopes to exit the group stage in his last year as Hoffenheim coach.
Note that there are only four teams that are confirmed in this pot. Valencia CF and Viktoria Plzen may join this pot based on UEFA's decision, and the other spots are expected to be occupied by the teams highlighted in red above.
BSC Young Boys played Dinamo Zagreb in the first round of the playoff, with the result being 1 - 1 for both sides. Hungarian champions and potential newcomers MOL Vidi lost to Greek club AEK Athens by 2 goals to 1 in their first Champions League playoff game. The winners of both these games based on aggregate will be joining Pot 4.
Also, there is a chance that the winner of SL Benfica ( 🇵🇹) and PAOK ( 🇬🇷) would join this pot by UEFA's regulations concerning the group stage draws.
