A familiar hurdle

For all the talk of a new era under Enzo Maresca, the Champions League draw has a habit of dragging City back to the same old walls. Since lifting the trophy in Istanbul back in 2023, the Blues have managed exactly one knockout victory — against København — and have been sent packing by Real Madrid in each of the last three campaigns.

That record hangs over Thursday's league phase draw like a wet blanket.

The mechanics

The draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday 27 August, kicking off at 6pm Central European Summer Time. That's 5pm in the UK, or noon on the east coast of the U.S. for those following from afar. BBC iPlayer, TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max will carry it live in the UK, with CBS Sports covering it across the pond.

Be patient with the ceremony. Last year it took over half an hour for the first team to be pulled out of the hat.

Pot 1 and the big six

City's sixth-place standing in the five-year UEFA Coefficient Ranking puts them in pot 1, alongside the other heavy hitters. The structure guarantees they will face two of PSG, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan and Real Madrid from their own pot — a reminder that there is no such thing as an easy group stage anymore.

All 31 other clubs are potential opponents, barring the four fellow Premier League sides: Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool are off limits.

The rules of engagement

The 36 clubs are split into four pots based on the UEFA Club Coefficient, with 29 direct entrants joined by seven play-off winners from Tuesday and Wednesday. City will play eight fixtures in total — two from each pot, one at home and one away, with four at the Etihad and four on the road.

There is one other constraint: no more than two clubs from a single country can be drawn against City. So if they pull Inter and Roma from pots 1 and 2, Napoli and Como would be ruled out from pots 3 and 4.

The draw works its way down from pot 1. Fixture dates and kick-off times land on Saturday morning.

For a club that has made a habit of meeting Madrid in the spring, the real intrigue might be in who lands in their path before the knockout rounds even begin.