Best and Worst draw outcomes for Manchester City in the Champions League

Manchester City will learn their Champions League fate for the League Phase of the competition tonight as the draw takes place in Monaco at 18:00 CET.

After securing a second place finish in the Premier League last season, the Sky Blues qualified for Europe's premier tournament for a 17th time in their history.

Yet, this one's quite special, as it marks their first European venture without Pep Guardiola, who stepped down as City's manager at the end of the 2025-26 season following a glorious 10-year spell.

Enzo Maresca, his former assistant, is the new figurehead on the dugout and has been tasked with guiding the side to just their second title in the competition.

Under the new format that came into effect two years ago, City will once again face eight teams in the first round, the League Phase, that will be determined tonight.

Here are the best and worst case scenarios:

Best Case Scenario

Manchester City are in Pot 1 of the draw. Of the eight other teams, they can't face league rivals Liverpool and Arsenal in the first round as UEFA's regulations prohibit clubs from the same association to be drawn against each other at this stage of the competition.

That leaves them with two-time defending champions PSG, Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, of which the last two seem favorable. City famously beat Inter in the 2023 final to clinch their first Champions League crown, whilst ousting Atletico from the 2021-22 season quarter-finals.

Club Brugge are the side from Pot 2 that everyone hopes to face while Real Betis have qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 2005-06 season.

Ukrainian minnows Shakhtar Donetsk are another side that City shouldn't face any issue dispatching while also having made light work of Villarreal last season with a 2-0 away win.

But if they draw two Spanish teams from the Pot 1 and 2, then City can't draw the Yellow Submarine as UEFA allows only a team to face a maximum of two sides from the same league.

Pot 4 sees teams of lesser quality, with Slovan Bratislava and Viking, making their first appearance, the pick of the bunch.

Worst Case Scenario

Real Madrid have been a sort of a grim reaper for City in the last two seasons, ending their Champions League campaigns in the knockout playoffs in 2025 and in the Round of 16 last season. On both occasions, the 15-time champions beat them home and away.

They'd absolutely dread at the prospect of facing Madrid again, while two-time defending champions PSG are another side City wouldn't want to face. Their last encounter came in the League Phase of 2024-25 season and the French giants thumped their English counterparts 4-2.

From Pot 2, AS Roma and Borussia Dortmund are the big guns that City can face although Portuguese champions Porto can ruffle a few feathers too. Serie A giants Napoli are the pick of the bunch in Pot 3 and City could have a repeat of last season's opening fixture that they won 2-0.

RB Leipzig are strong contenders for dark horses on paper although Galatasaray's encouraging record against the big runs in recent times mean the Turkish giants cannot be underestimated either.

Former Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas-led Como are making their Champions League debut but will be on a mission to pull off major scalps in Europe too after their dominant run in the Serie A last season. But if they too, can't draw City if the English outfit face two Italian sides from earlier Pots.
Stuttgart can offer a challenge too.

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