The situation
The pots for the Champions League draw to be held on Thursday in Istanbul (6:00 p.m.) were practically defined in the absence of knowing the last three qualifiers from the previous rounds, which in any case will go to 4. Benfica’s pass led him automatically to 3, so the table of the first three pots is completely configured. Among the Spanish teams, only Real Madrid will have the privilege of starting from 1. That honor corresponds to them for being the champion of the competition and also of the League. Since UEFA changed the criteria for seeding, the national champions of the highest-ranked leagues are guaranteed to be in the main ballot box. Therefore, the whites will be accompanied by Eintracht (as champion of the Europa League), Manchester City, Milan, Bayern, PSG, Porto and Ajax. None of these will be able to be a rival of Madrid but of the other Spanish representatives, who by ranking enter pot 2. Barça, Atlético and Sevilla will aim to avoid Bayern, City and PSG. Any matchup against them in the group stage will have a big impact.
The details
Among the rest of the teams in pot 2, Madrid’s rival will come out, surely the strongest that can be found : Liverpool, Chelsea, Juventus, RB Leipzig and Tottenham are a serious threat. With regard to 3, the Italian teams and Borussia Dortmund give substance to a hype that will really mark the hardness of the groups. The ‘borusser’, Inter and Napoli will await, along with Shakhtar, Salzburg, Leverkusen, Sporting de Portugal and Benfica , two rivals a priori more powerful than them. Finally, the fourth, the one that is yet to be closed, will have the weakest opponents, although it hides some bomb like Marseille. The French finished second in last Ligue 1 and have signed very well. Brugge, Celtic, Maccabi Haifa and Viktoria Plzen will also be part of this pot. They will be joined by the winners of the qualifiers Dinamo Zagreb-Bodo Glimt, PSV-Rangers and Trabzonspor-Copenhagen.