Author: Amrit Santlani
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City won the Champions League title by beating Inter Milan 1-0 in last Saturday’s final in Istanbul. After trailing Arsenal in the Premier League race for most of the season, City struggled to beat Arsenal and achieved a historic treble after beating Manchester United and winning the FA Cup. However, City’s victory did Mikel Arteta’s team a favor, as the English club should avoid 13-time champions Real Madrid in next season’s group stage.
After the curtains close on another vibrant season, attention turns to the next campaign. There will be a two-month wait for the Londoners to get to know their opponents, but they already know which teams they probably won’t face. The Champions League draw will take place in August, but following City’s victory, many teams’ pots have been confirmed, with Arteta’s side drawn in Pot 2 for the 2023/24 UCL season.
Currently, 26 teams have qualified directly for the group stage of the Champions League: Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Real Sociedad, Napoli, Lazio, Inter, Milan, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Union Berlin, Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Benfica, Porto, Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Star Belgrade and Celtic.
According to UEFA rules, Arsenal cannot be paired with teams from the same association, so they will avoid City, Manchester United and Newcastle United. The rules also state that Arsenal will be paired with opponents from other pots, but it is guaranteed that they will not face some of the big teams, such as Madrid, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, Atlético, RB Leipzig or Porto.
However, they could face teams like Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica or Feyenoord, all of whom are in Pot 1.
In addition, Arsenal could also face teams like Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, Milan, Lazio or Red Star Belgrade, who will be in Pot 3, and with six more teams to be confirmed after the UCL qualifiers, Union Berlin and Lens being the only two teams confirmed from Pot 4.