Who Can United Face In Europe?

The draw for the UEFA Champions League group stage will take place on Thursday (16:45 BST) and Manchester United have been seeded in pot two alongside some familiar names.

The Reds earned a place in the draw by clinching a 7-1 aggregate play-off victory over Club Brugge, following a 3-1 first leg win at Old Trafford and then a 4-0 success on Wednesday. So who might Louis van Gaal’s men face next? Here’s an explanation of the proceedings and a list of potential opponents…

As for every season since 1999/2000, 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four with home and away matches to be played by mid-December. Some 22 teams earned automatic qualification to the group stage and 10 others - including United - had to qualify via the play-off system.

This season, following a regulations change, Pot 1 for the 32-team draw is now formed by the tournament holders, Barcelona, and the champions of the top seven associations in Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg and PSV. The latter are involved due to Barca being Spanish champions, which gave the eighth-ranked Netherlands a seeding place.

The remaining three pots are decided by each team's UEFA club coefficient ranking and United are in Pot 2 alongside Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Porto, Arsenal, Manchester City, Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen.

As you may remember, Sevilla were granted automatic qualification to the Champions League as a reward for winning last season's UEFA Europa League and, as such, Spain have now become the first nation to have five teams in the group stage after Valencia beat Monaco in the play-offs.

United will face one team apiece from Pots 1, 3 and 4, and cannot be drawn against a team from the same country in the group stage so Chelsea are not among the options.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEEDING POTS
POT 1: Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, Zenit St-Petersburg, PSV.
POT 2: Manchester United, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Porto, Arsenal, Manchester City, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen.
POT 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, CSKA Moscow, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, Lyon, Dynamo Kiev, Roma.
POT 4: BATE Borisov, Borussia Monchengladbach, VFL Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Gent, Malmo, FK Astana.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Matchday one: 15/16 September
Matchday two: 29/30 September
Matchday three: 20/21 October
Matchday four: 3/4 November
Matchday five: 24/25 November
Matchday six: 8/9 December