Best and worst case scenarios for Manchester United in Champions League draw

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Manchester United will learn their Champions League group stage fate today.

The four pots were confirmed last night and the draw will take place at 5pm today in Geneva.

United find themselves in Pot 2 upon their return to European football’s top table.

Here’s a look at the teams we could face in the group stage…

Best case scenario

There are some relatively gentle potential opponents in Pot 1.

We couldn’t take anything for granted against Porto, but they look the best case scenario here, with Zenit and Sevilla also acceptable given the alternatives.

Pot 3 contains a mixture of potential banana skins and tricky away trips.

Krasnodar and Dynamo Kiev are probably the weakest opponents on paper, although the long trip wouldn’t be ideal for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Club Brugge are in Pot 4, and United saw them off 6-1 on aggregate in last season’s Europa League. Rennes and Celtic’s conquerers Ferencváros also shouldn’t cause too many problems.

Best case scenario: Porto, Krasnodar and Ferencváros.

Worst case scenario

United’s European destiny could look very different. Naturally, there are some big hitters in Pot 1.

Reigning champions Bayern Munich are probably the most ominous potential opponent, given they won every single European game last season en route to lifting the trophy.

Real Madrid would be a very tricky tie, too. Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain are probably best avoided but United have beat both on their own patch in the 2018/19 season.

So what of the aforementioned Pot 3 banana skins? Inter looked to be on a Europa League collision course with United last season, and could lie in wait here.

RB Leipzig made the semi-finals last season and free-scoring Atalanta came within minutes of doing the same – both would be tough to beat.

Borussia Mönchengladbach are probably the best team in Pot 4, with the length of travel time making Lokomotiv Moscow and İstanbul Başakşehir less than ideal, if very beatable, opposition.

Worst case scenario: Real Madrid, Inter and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

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