Manchester United are preparing for a second consecutive season in the Uefa Champions League and, believe it or not, losing the Europa League final might have been a good thing for them in terms of their group stage prospects.
The Red Devils were defeated by Villarreal on penalties back in May, meaning they would be placed in Pot 2 for the Champions League group stage draw as Villarreal landed in Pot 1 for winning the Europa League.
Following a number of shocks across the continent's top leagues, a lot of the top teams cannot be drawn alongside Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool are all in Pot 2 with United, meaning they won't be in the same group as them.
In Pot 1 Manchester City and Chelsea as champions of England and Europe will not drawn with United due to the same nation rule, keeping two of the competition's strongest sides separate.
From Pot 1 United can be drawn with Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Sporting CP and Lille - all teams that they will fancy their chances against in the group stages.
Porto, Ajax, RB Leipzig, Atalanta and Zenit are confirmed in Pot 3, while AC Milan, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Kyiv, Besiktas and Club Brugge are still waiting to find out which pot they will be in based on the qualifying rounds, which are currently in progress.
Clubs currently involved in that process include PSV Eindhoven, Rangers, Shakhtar Donetsk and Benfica, but both Celtic and Galatasaray have already been eliminated at the second qualifying round.
Pots 3 and 4 will only be completely confirmed once the qualifying rounds come to an end later this month.
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