As we await the draw for the Champions League this afternoon, representatives of Manchester United, Manchester City and Barcelona will be heading to Monte Carlo full of optimism after seeing their respective sides placed in pot two ahead of this afternoon’s ceremony.
 

A quick look at the possibilities of how the groups could pan out makes happy reading for both Premier League clubs with the main danger to their progression into the knock-out phase coming from pot one. 
 

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus could all be heading to Manchester but with two qualification places available, Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho and his opposite number across the city Pep Guardiola, will be confident they will still be in the competition come next February.
 

A look further down the draw sees a potential challenge from Napoli and Roma out of pot three and a possible “Battle of Britain” meeting with Celtic the worst case scenario from pot four. 
 

New Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde will hope he can get lucky and avoid potential games against Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool and a trip to Russia to face CSKA Moscow; a place the Blaugrana always seem to struggle.

If the balls are kind, then all three will expect to be at the business end of the competition when it resumes after the winter break.