Manchester City facing an uphill battle with top flight rivals on easy street

Seville sold the versatile Aleix Vidal and Carlos Bacca, their top goalscorer, but, as ever, they have been shrewd operators in the transfer market. In came Yehven Konoplyanka, a Liverpool target 18 months ago, on a free transfer, while Ciro Immobile arrived on loan from Borussia Dortmund and Fernando Llorente was bought from Juventus.

As for Mönchengladbach, they have had a rocky and injury-plagued start to the season and are without a point in the Bundesliga. But Lucien Favre, their coach, is a canny tactician, particularly at home, and they are bound to be tough for any opponents.

Graphic: Road to Milan starts here

United were arguably the beneficiaries of the new Uefa rules that guarantee a top seed in pot one to the national champions of the eight highest-rated nations.

It meant that, as second seeds, they ended up facing PSV Eindhoven, whereas under the previous system it could have been Real or Atletico Madrid. Memphis Depay returns to face his old side, who have been weakened by Georgino Wijnaldum’s move to Newcastle United.

CSKA Moscow present the usual challenges in terms of logistics and weather, but other than reacquiring Seydou Doumbia, after his spell with Roma, they have been quiet on the transfer front.

Wolfsburg, runners-up in the Bundesliga, present a more intriguing challenge. The big question is whether Kevin de Bruyne, last season’s player of the year in Germany, will be on board when they first meet at Old Trafford on September 30.

Bizarrely, City could do them a huge favour — at least in Europe; the Premier League is another matter — if they complete his transfer by deadline day.

Arsenal were bumped from pot one under the new rules, but their landing, all told, is a soft one. It is the classic group with a juggernaut — Bayern — and two comparatively average sides, Olympiacos and Dynamo Zagreb.

The German club knocked out Arsène Wenger’s side in 2012-13 and 2013-14, so there is plenty of familiarity there. Compared with last season, they have added attacking oomph in the form of Vidal and the speedy Douglas Costa, and they are clear favourites.

Olympiacos have won five consecutive Greek titles (and 17 of the past 19), but they do not appear much of a threat after a turbulent close season during which Evangelos Marinakis, their chairman, was charged in a match-fixing scandal. Zagreb, another perennial regional power with ten straight Croatian League titles, have never made it to the Champions League knockout rounds.

Chelsea can be happy with their draw. As a pot one club, they avoided the Madrid sides, who dropped down under the new rules, and instead face Porto. José Mourinho will obviously know everything there is to know about his old club and he will be aware that they have been seriously revamped after a summer in which they lost both starting full backs, Alex Sandro, who joined Juventus, and Danilo, who signed for Real Madrid, as well as Jackson Martínez.

Dynamo Kiev are one of those clubs who seemingly qualify for the group stage every year, then fail to get out of it. The last time they advanced was in 1999-2000 and, if they do so this year, it will likely be at the expense of Porto.

Then there are Maccabi Tel Aviv, making their first Champions League appearance in a decade. They won the Israeli league last season under Pako Ayestarán, Rafael Benítez’s former assistant at Liverpool and Valencia, but are now guided, ironically, by a former Chelsea man, Slavisa Jokanovic, who is fresh from helping Watford to return to the Premier League.

Elsewhere, the toughest group, besides that of City, looks to b group E, where Barcelona, the champions, are joined by Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov. Leverkusen, under Roger Schmidt, are tough opponents for anyone and Roma have added considerable firepower in the form of Edin Dzeko while Kevin Strootman, the midfield player, finally appears to be on his way back from injury.

BATE may not be a fashionable side, but in the past three years their Champions League scalps have included the likes of Athletic Bilbao, Lille and Bayern Munich.

In group A, Real Madrid cross paths with Paris Saint-Germain, offering Ángel Di María yet another chance to prove just how wrong Florentino Pérez was in deeming him surplus to requirements.Either way, the two giants should have a straightforward time of it.

Group H is perhaps the most balanced group, featuring André Villas-Boas’s Zenit St Petersburg, high-flying Valencia, the young guns of Lyons and Gent, who won their first Belgian title last season.

For novelty purposes, nobody can compete with group C. At the top, it is finely balanced between Benfica and Atletico Madrid, with Galatasaray as dark horses.

But the fourth side are Astana, a fairly new club from the capital of Kazakhstan. Spare a thought for Benfica, who will be travelling there on November 25.

Not only is it an eight-hour flight across four time zones, it is also the second-coldest capital city in the world. The average temperature that time of year ranges from -4 to -15C — and kick-off will be at 9pm local time.

Travel log

Distance in miles that Barclays Premier League clubs will travel during the Champions League group stage

9,192 Chelsea

5,894 Arsenal

5,455 Manchester United

4,856 Manchester City

Words by Bill Edgar