The Champions League group stage draw takes place today and Football Italia rates the possible opponents for Serie A clubs, from Manchester City to Newcastle United.
The draw takes place in Montecarlo at 17:00 BST and you can follow it live on the Football Italia Liveblog.
There are four Serie A clubs participating: Napoli in pot 1, Inter in pot 2, Lazio and Milan in pot 3. Clubs from the same league can’t meet during the group stage and in Round 16.
Manchester City are surely the toughest opponents for Italian clubs. We rated them five stars, the same as Real Madrid in pot 2.
The Premier League and La Liga giants are followed by Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG in pot 1, Manchester United and Arsenal in pot 2. They all have four stars.
Sandro Tonali’s Newcastle United are in pot four with a three-star rating. Surely, they are the trickiest team in the last pot and the worst-case scenario for Serie A clubs would be to meet the Magpies alongside a four-star-rated club from other pots or, even worse, Real Madrid.
Of course, Napoli could be paired with Madrid, but not with City being in the same pot as Pep Guardiola’s men. Likewise, Inter can meet City, but not the Merengues coached by Carlo Ancelotti.
Here are the Football Italia ratings for possible Champions League opponents of Serie A clubs.
Pot 1
NAPOLI
Manchester City *****
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain ****
Benfica, Sevilla ***
Feyenoord **
Pot 2:
INTER
Real Madrid *****
Manchester United, Arsenal ****
Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto ***
Pot 3:
MILAN AND LAZIO
Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Salzburg, Red Star Belgrade, PSV, Braga **
FC Copenhagen *
Pot 4:
Newcastle United ***
Union Berlin, Real Sociedad, Celtic, Galatasaray **
Royal Antwerp, Young Boys, RC Lens *
Lens one star, Celtic two?
I doubt that.