Manchester City are two wins away from an historic treble as they prepare for two cup finals in the space of a week.
First they face Manchester United at Wembley in the FA Cup final on Saturday before travelling to Istanbul to take on Inter Milan in the Champions League showpiece. The latter is the one trophy missing from Pep Guardiola's time at the Etihad and the one he and City are most desperate to win.
It will be their second final, having lost to Chelsea in 2021, with City making a habit of reaching the latter stages in recent years. They will be back again next season, potentially as defending champions, and, with the majority of European leagues now decided and most of the 32 group stage spots filled, we've taken a look at a dream scenario for City in next season's competition.
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The Blues will be in pot one for the draw having won the Premier League title. They will be joined by Napoli, Bayern Munich, PSG, Barcelona and Benfica. The winners of the Europa League final between Spanish side Sevilla and Jose Mourinho's Roma will also go into pot one.
The final team will be decided depending on the outcome of the Champions League final next month. If City win then Feyenoord will be in pot one, with Inter Milan in pot two. Should the latter prevail in Istanbul then they would be among the top seeds. That scenario would also see Shakhtar Donetsk, the newly-crowned Ukrainian champions, in pot two with Feyenoord in pot three.
The rest of pot two is made up of Spanish giants Real Madrid, city rivals Atletico Madrid and Bundesliga pair Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, along with Porto, Manchester United and Mikel Arteta's Arsenal. City cannot be drawn against the latter two in the group stages but there remains plenty of European pedigree lurking.
There are four certainties in the third pot: Italian duo AC Milan and Lazio along with RB Salzburg and Red Star Belgrade, the champions of Austria and Serbia respectively. German club Union Berlin and French side Lens will be in pot four while the other three certain qualifiers - Newcastle United, Celtic and Real Sociedad - will be in one of the bottom two pots, along with the six winners from play-off rounds. That could include Scottish side Rangers and the likes of PSV Eindhoven and Marseille.
The 2023-24 competition will be the final edition with 32 teams in the group stage after UEFA announced a new format from 2024 onwards. This season's group stage draw takes place on August 31.
City's dream Champions League group: Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, Lens
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