Just in: Who Chelsea could face in UCL group stage ahead of draw revealed
Chelsea’s Champions League defence begins on Thursday as the group stage draw is set to take place.
As the current holders, the Blues will be in Pot 1 and avoid all the league winners from the other major leagues.
However, thanks to upsets all over the continent last season, the likes of Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus could all end up in Chelsea’s group.
The qualifiers aren’t over yet but a rough outline of the pots is already available and here’s a look at who Chelsea could face.
Pot 1 opponents
Chelsea
Villarreal
Manchester City
Atletico Madrid
Inter Milan
Bayern Munich
Lille
Sporting CP
Pot 2 teams
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Juventus
Paris Saint-Germain
Manchester United
Liverpool
Sevilla
Borussia Dortmund
Pot 3 opponents
Zenit St. Petersburg
FC Porto
Ajax
Shakhtar Donetsk*
RB Leipzig
FC Salzburg*
Benfica
Atalanta
* indicates that these teams will have to go through the qualifying stages first, and
Pot 4 opponents
Club Brugge
AC Milan
Wolfsburg
Young Boys
Malmo
The rest of the teams will be decided after the remaining qualifiers.