Barca’s position in pot two will feel somewhat strange to most onlookers, given that the club had, until now, always been seeded and thus in pot one.
Their absence from the top pot is down to a change made to the seeding process a little over a year ago. this change means that the champions of the top eight European leagues are given ‘seeded’ status.
That means that Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Monaco, Benfica, Spartak Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk find themselves in the top pot. Nevertheless, pot two is just as dangerous, if not moreso than pot one, with the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Sevilla, Porto and Barcelona all present in pot two.
In reality, there is little difference between the two pots. Despite being in pot one, Real Madrid could face Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City or Unai Emery’s Nemar-inspired PSG.
Barca on the other hand could play Bayern Munich or Chelsea… though there is also a chance that the ‘Blues’ could be drawn against Spartak Moscow or Shakhtar Donetsk.
