The best and worst of Champions League draw for City
By James Fudge
After reaching the final last year, Liverpool finds themselves in Pot 3 potentially facing a group of death. But, who cares, they won’t be a group stage opponent.
It leaves a wealth of tricky opponents but none that could pose a serious threat to dumping City out of the group stage.
One that should be avoided purely on travel time is CSKA Moscow, especially if sandwiched between a tricky Premier League fixture. The travel time of more than 3 hours may not seem sizeable but could be enough to take it out of the players and damage a tricky tie against a Premier League title rival.
The two French sides, Ajax and Valencia will all be strong opponents but it is Valencia to watch out for me.
After overturning their fortunes via Peter Lim and getting help from super agent Jorge Mendes, the Spanish team has improved drastically since the Nevilles’ left the club. A fourth placed finish last season, three points behind Real Madrid and 12 ahead of their nearest challengers, the team on the eastern Spanish coast will be a threat to any team on their day.
They have added wisely to their squad with the additions of Goncalo Guedes, Michy Batsuhayi, Kevin Gameiro and Denis Cheryshev to their attack with only Joao Cancelo being the notable departure.
Ajax has kept hold of the majority of their young talent after their potential Dutch superstars flirted with the European powerhouses during their break from the World Cup. Their attacking midfield trio of Dusan Tadic, Hakim Ziyech and Zakaria Labyad could cause an upset or two.
Lyon have lost of a number of their stars over the past few seasons but keeping hold of World Cup winner, Nabil Fekir, will be vital for their chances of advancing past the group stages. That can’t be said for Monaco though, as they will certainly be weakened by the departure of Fabinho and Thomas Lemar, and Kylian Mbappe, who they can never replace with like-for-like quality.
PSV Eindhoven and Schalke make up the rest of the pot.