Manchester United are facing a tough task in the Champions League group stages after being drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig.
Drawn out in pot two, the Red Devils were placed in group H with last year’s Champions League finalists and one of the surprise packages.
Their spot in Group H raised some eyebrows with United the penultimate team drawn from pot two but unable to be placed alongside Porto in Group C.
Instead, local rivals Manchester City were handed the more enviable task of heading to Portugal rather than Paris – and United have old rivals Liverpool to blame.
That’s because the Anfield club were already drawn in Group D, where they will take on Ajax.
Liverpool and United are paired together for TV purposes and unable to feature in the same side of the draw, which would cause them to share match nights and therefore clash in group stage fixtures.
As a result, Groups A-D were all unavailable to United once Liverpool were drawn out in Group D and they now face a nightmare group as a result.
After being handed a draw against PSG, German side RB Leipzig were drawn from pot three to enter their group, a side who reached the quarter-finals last season.
Manchester City, on the other hand, were given Olympiakos alongside Porto in their much more appealing Group C which was closed off to United.
The final stage of the draw saw newcomers Istanbul Basaksehir added to United’s group with Marseille rounding off City’s group.
Liverpool, who caused the Group of Death for United after being drawn out first, will face Ajax, Atalanta and FC Midtjylland as they look to regain the crown they won in 2018/19.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS IN FULL
- Group A: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, FC Salzburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
- Group B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Borussia Monchengladbach
- Group C: Porto, Man City, Oympiacos, Marseille
- Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, FC Midtjylland
- Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Stade Rennais
- Group F: Zenit, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Club Brugge
- Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kiev, Ferencvarosi
- Group H: PSG, Man Utd, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir
