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Does anybody here know how the Champions League draw is constructed? I was surprised to see Bayern and PSG drawn together, because I would have thought they'd be seeded. Then I was surprised to see Barca with Juve. And then Real with Dortmund.
What I've done below is list who's in each group, and I've added their rankings according to ESPN's "Soccer Power Index" metric. This is the only metric I'm aware of that attempts to put all teams, including from different leagues, onto a single comparative scale. I'm sure it's not perfect but equally I'm sure it's not hopeless. So anyway this is how it looks:
Group A: Manchester United (8), Benfica (15), CSKA Moscow (21), Basel (28)
Group B: Bayern Munich (2), Paris St-Germain (4), Celtic (24), Anderlecht (25)
Group C: Chelsea (9), Atletico Madrid (10), Roma (13), Qarabag (32)
Group D: Barcelona (3), Juventus (5), Sporting (22), Olympiakos (26)
Group E: Liverpool (16), Sevilla (17), Spartak Moscow (28), Maribor (31)
Group F: Manchester City (7), Napoli (11), l Shakhtar Donetsk (20), Feyenoord (29)
Group G: Monaco (12) , RB Leipzig (18), Porto (19), Besiktas (23)
Group H: Real Madrid (1), Borussia Dortmund (6), Tottenham (14), Apoel (30)
It turns out that I was right to be surprised. The top 6 teams - and regardless of how accurate the SPI rankings are, I think most people would agree they are the top 6 - all all drawn into 3 groups. Groups B and D really are complete non-events, other than seeing who comes a distant 3rd and qualifies for the Europa League. Group E is embarrassingly weak. Group C looks like it could be a tight 3-horse race, and Group G might be tight.
But honestly, how on earth is the seeding performed?
Pot 1 has the winners of europes top leagues in it regardless of their overall ranking.
Pot 2 has the top ranked teams not in pot 1.
Pots 3 & 4 carry on from there, all based on the mystery that is the UEFA co-efficient system.
You can't play anyone from the same country in the group stages.