CHELSEA, Manchester United and Arsenal will all be among the top seeds for today’s Champions League draw in Monaco (5pm Irish time, live on Sky Sports News) – but could still find themselves facing Real Madrid in the group stage.
The English trio are among eight clubs in the top pot meaning they will avoid the likes of champions Inter Milan, Barcelona and beaten finalists Bayern Munich.
However Real Madrid are only in the second pot of eight clubs and would provide stiff opposition in the group phase, as would teams like Valencia and Werder Bremen.
Tottenham will be in the third pot along with Rangers meaning they would have to be in a group with strong sides from the top two pots.
Uefa’s rules for the draw will see the 32 qualified teams allocated into eight groups of four teams. Each group will contain a top seed, plus one club each from the second, third and fourth pots.
Each pot is determined by a club’s Uefa coefficient. No English sides can play each other before the quarter-finals but the trio of top seeds could face Rangers.
