Manchester United will find out who their Champions League group stage opponents will be this week, with the draw due to take place in Istanbul on Thursday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side suffered a shock early exit in the competition last season and were demoted to the Europa League after finishing third in their group behind PSG and RB Leipzig.
But after signing Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, United will feel in a much stronger position going into the tournament this time around.
Here, Mirror Sport takes a look at who Man Utd could face in the Champions League group stage.
Provisional pots for the draw
Pot one: Chelsea, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Inter, Lille, Sporting CP.
Pot two: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Man Utd, PSG, Liverpool, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund.
Pot three: Porto, Ajax, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Pot four : Club Brugge, Young Boys or Ferencvaros, AC Milan, Ludogorets or Malmo, Wolfsburg.
Pot three or four: PLUS: Shakhtar Donetsk or Monaco, RB Salzburg or Brondby, Benfica or PSV Eindhoven, Besiktas, Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Zagreb or Sheriff Tiraspol.
Pots three and four are not yet completely defined as the second-leg of the qualifying play-offs will take place across Tuesday and Wednesday.
Uefa rules stipulate that no team from the same nation can be drawn together in the group stage.
This means that United will avoid current holders Chelsea and Premier League champions Man City this early in the competition.
Man Utd’s best possible draw
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Pot one is packed with tough opponents but United fans would take Portuguese champions Sporting being drawn in their group, rather than some of the other names in that list.
Ruben Amorim’s young and exciting side clinched their first Primeira Liga title for 19 years last season, but are inexperienced at an elite level.
Sporting are back in the competition for the first-time since 2018, but have not made it out of the group stage since the 2008-09 campaign.
Russian champions Zenit are have returned to the tournament for the third year in a row however, they have not progressed to the knockout stages since 2016.
The Krestovsky Stadium would be an intimidating atmosphere for Solskjaer’s men, but the Russian giants would be the most favourable option in a pot which contains a number of household names.
Finally, one of the play-off winners would be the most desirable from the fourth pot for the Red Devils.
Moldovan champions FC Sheriff - who are set to reach the group stage for the first time in their history, would be the most favourable option should they end up in pot four.
Alternatively, Swedish league winners Malmo would be a good opponent for United.
Malmo did knock out Steven Gerrard’s Rangers in the previous play-off round, but the Red Devils should have the quality to ease past Jon Dal Tomasson’s side.
Man Utd’s worst possible draw
Six-time winners Bayern would no doubt be the worst possible scenario for Solskjaer’s side.
The two European giants have met a number of times over the years - most famously in the 1999 Champions League final, but Bayern will want to be avoided at all costs.
Bayern have an even better squad than they did when they won the competition in 2020 and they can never be written off.
Meanwhile, perennial Dutch champions Ajax would the toughest of the teams in pot three - given Porto’s recent struggles and RB Leipzig’s transition phase after loosing Timo Werner and most recently Dayot Upamecano.
While Ajax's players are often inexperienced at this level, their successful European history would provide stern opposition for the Red Devils.
Seven-time winners AC Milan are back in the competition for the first time since 2014 and have enjoyed somewhat of a revival in recent years.
Stefano Piolo’s side came second in Serie A last year with the help of 39-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic and would be a tough test for United should they be drawn together.
