Man Utd lucky in Champions League, Man City in group of death

Man Utd only have to face PSV, one of the weakest teams in the top seed pot, in this year's Champions League group stage. Man City are in a difficult group with Juventus, Sevilla and Moenchengladbach. Meanwhile, Arsenal will face Bayern early, while Real Madrid will face PSG.

Champions League group stage draw results:

Table A:PSG, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo

Table B:PSV, Man Utd, CSKA Moscow, Wolfsburg

Table C:Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray, Astana

Table D:Juventus, Man City, Sevilla, Moenchengladbach

Table E:Barca, Leverkusen, Roma, BATE Borisov

Table F:Bayern, Arsenal, Olympiakos, Dinamo Zagreb

Group G:Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Maccabi Tel Aviv

Table H:Zenit, Valencia, Lyon, Gent

Depay (red shirt) will soon meet his old team PSV again. Photo: Reuters

Instead of facing Barca, Bayern or PSG in the worst case scenarios, Man Utd are really lucky to only have to face last season's Dutch champions PSV. In this summer transfer window, the Red Devils bought PSV's best player, Memphis Depay. Meeting his old team so soon is not a good thing for Depay, but it is a good opportunity for Man Utd, who need an easy group to get a ticket to the knockout round.

The other two teams in Group B, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg, are not too strong. Man Utd can therefore play well in the Premier League while still distributing their strength effectively for the Champions League group stage.

While the Red Devils do not have to face too strong opponents in the group stage, the same city team Man City has more problems to solve when facing Juventus, Sevilla and Moenchengladbach in Group D. Juventus made a splash when reaching the final last season, while Sevilla has been the Europa League champion for the past two years.

Another English football representative, Arsenal, was not happy when facing their arch-rivals Bayern Munich in Group F. Bayern had eliminated the Gunners in the last two meetings in the round of 16 in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons. However, Arsenal still had some luck as the two remaining opponents in Group F, Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb, were not too strong.

Bayern eliminated Arsenal in both of their last meetings.

Chelsea may be the most pleased English side after the draw. Jose Mourinho's side will start this season with Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel Aviv, opponents who are not of the same level.

Defending champions Barca can also be pleased to be in Group E with Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov. Avoiding big opponents like Man Utd, Man City and Arsenal gives coach Luis Enrique's team a good chance to qualify for the next round while not having added any players this summer.

Meanwhile, Barca's rivals Real Madrid face a number of challenges in Group A. In addition to two matches against PSG, one of the title contenders, coach Rafa Benitez's team also have to travel to Ukraine to meet Shakhtar Donetsk and to Sweden to meet Malmo, the team that just eliminated Celtic in the play-off round. However, a ticket to the next round is still within reach for Ronaldo and his teammates.

According to VNE