The way it works is that there are four pots. One team from each pot will go into a group and except for the same association, you can draw anyone. Therefore we cannot meet Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Internazionale, Liverpool, Olympique Lyon or Barcelona.

Here are the four pots:

Pot One

Manchester United (England)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Chelsea (England)
Internazionale (Italy)
Arsenal (England)
Liverpool (England)
Olympique Lyon (France)
Barcelona (Spain)

Pot Two

Bayern Munich (Germany)
PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
Villarreal (Spain)
AS Roma (Italy)
FC Porto (Portugal)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Juventus (Italy)

Pot Three

Marseilles (France)
Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
Bordeaux (France)
Celtic (Scotland)
Basel (Switzerland)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)

Pot Four

Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Fiorentina (Italy)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
CFR 1907 Cluj (Romania)
Aalborg BK (Denmark)
Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus)
FC BATE Borisov (Belarus)

As you can see, it’s a tough draw, whatever the outcome.

I’d say the worst group we could get is:

Arsenal
Bayern Munich
Marseille
Athletico Madrid

and the easiest would be

Arsenal
Weder Bremen
Basel
FC BATE Borisov

You can watch it here… or wait until I’ve had a chance to digest…]]>

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