The 21 sides Man City could face in the Champions League group-stage draw

Following the conclusion of the Champions League qualifiers on Monday night, Manchester City now know which 21 sides they could face in the group stage.

The draw will be made at 5pm UK time and will determine the three sides City will come up against in the group stage, including potential games against the likes of Barcelona, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund.

City will be in pot one of the draw, along with Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Ajax, and therefore the Premier League champions cannot be paired with any of these seven clubs.

City also can’t face fellow English sides Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, all of whom are in pot two, leaving Pep Guardiola’s men with 21 potential opponents.

Who could City face?

Pot 2: Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig

Pot 3: Borussia Dortmund, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Napoli, Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen

Pot 4: Marseille, Club Brugge, Celtic, Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers, Dinamo Zagreb, FC Copenhagen

The Blues will be drawn into a group alongside one team from each pot, and will play each side home and away, with the top two after six game-weeks progressing to the knockout stages.

Best-case scenario

There are no particularly favourable opponents from pot two, with all five sides seasoned Champions League competitors. But Sevilla or RB Leipzig would perhaps represent a kinder draw.

Likewise, Shakhtar Donest or Sporting Lisbon should be a relatively straightforward for City, while sides such as Celtic, Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen or Dinamo Zagreb from pot four wouldn’t pose Guardiola’s men many problems.

Worst-case scenario

Atletico showed City last season just how tough an opponent they can be, and nearly eliminated them from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage. Barcelona would also pose a real challenge.

There are also some elite sides in pot three, with Dortmund, Inter and Napoli three clubs the Blues will hope to avoid.

In the final pot, Marseille would seem, by some distance, to be the worst-case draw for City, with the Les Phoceens finishing second in Ligue 1 last season.