The best and worst case scenarios for Milan in Champions League draw

AC Milan will soon find out which eight teams they will face in the Champions League this season in what is a totally revamped group stage format. 

The Rossoneri will be looking to put in a much better showing than last season where they were eliminated from the tournament in the group stage and had to go into the Europa League.

Success is harder to judge this season with the new format that sees the top eight teams out of 36 going into the next round and the next 16 teams going into a play-off to see who will help form the round of 16.

Milan have been placed in Pot 2 of the draw on this occasion which means they are going to play two teams from Pot 1 which features the theoretically strongest teams in the tournament, Milan News has highlighted.

Pot 1

• Real Madrid
• Manchester City
• Bayern Munich
• Paris Saint-Germain
• Liverpool
• Inter
• Borussia Dortmund
• Leipzig
• Barcelona

In Pot 1, the teams Milan would like to avoid are Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, and Liverpool, with RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund and perhaps Barcelona being the favoured opponents. They cannot be drawn against Inter.

Pot 2

• Atletico Madrid
• Bayer Leverkusen
• Atalanta
• Juventus
• Benfica
• Arsenal
• Brugge
• Shakhtar
• Milan

In Pot 2 where Milan are, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid are the clear teams to avoid. Club Brugge and Shakhtar Donetsk are the ideal opponents, with Benfica also being acceptable.

Pot 3

• Feyenoord
• Sporting CP
• PSV Eindhoven
• Dinamo Zagreb
• Salzburg
• Lille
• Red Star
• Young Boys
• Celtic

Pot 3 is where the opponents start to look more favourable for Milan but it would be ideal to avoid the likes of Feyenoord, Sporting CP and PSV Eindhoven. Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys and Celtic look to be the weakest teams there.

Pot 4

• Slovan Bratislava
• Monaco
• Sparta Prague
• Aston Villa
• Bologna
• Girona
• Stuttgart
• Sturm Graz
• Brest

Pot 4 is very mixed, with AS Monaco and Aston Villa being the clear teams to avoid. Any of Slovan Bratislava, Sturm Graz, Stade Brest and Sparta Prague would be ideal for Milan.