Best & worst case scenarios for clubs

The 2022/23 Champions League group stage draw is only a few hours away and clubs across Europe are eagerly awaiting their fate in club football’s single biggest competition.

The draw works in the usual way, with the 32 clubs divided into four pots. Each group will include one club from each pot, with no two sides from the same country allowed to be drawn together.

The holders, Europa League winners and the 2021/22 champions from Europe’s top ranked domestic leagues make up pot one. All other pots are determined by each qualifier’s individual UEFA ranking points. Russian clubs remain excluded as a result of the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Each season, the Champions League draw typically throws out at least one ‘group of death’, while there also often weaker or more favourable groups that offer comfortable passage to the knockouts.

Real Madrid

Best group: RB Leipzig, Sporting CP, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Liverpool, Inter, Marseille

Manchester City

Best group: RB Leipzig, Sporting CP, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Barcelona, Inter, Rangers

Bayern Munich

Best group: Sevilla, Sporting CP, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Liverpool, Inter, Marseille

Paris Saint-Germain

Best group: RB Leipzig, Sporting CP, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Liverpool, Inter, Rangers

AC Milan

Best group: RB Leipzig, Sporting CP, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Marseille

Barcelona/Atletico Madrid

Best group: Porto, Red Bull Salzburg, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Manchester City, Inter, Marseille

Juventus

Best group: Porto, Red Bull Salzburg, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, Marseille

Liverpool/Chelsea/Tottenham

Best group: Porto, Red Bull Salzburg, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Real Madrid, Inter, Rangers

Inter/Napoli

Best group: Porto, RB Leipzig, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Real Madrid, Liverpool, Marseille

Borussia Dortmund

Best group: Porto, Sevilla, Maccabi Haifa

Worst group: Real Madrid, Liverpool, Marseille

Rangers/Celtic

Best group: Porto, RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg

Worst group: Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter

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