Manchester United are back in the Champions League, and their potential opponents in the competition are already becoming clearer for next season
Michael Carrick guided Manchester United to Champions League qualification with three games to spare(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool secured a return to the Champions League, with Michael Carrick succeeding in his mission to bring the club back to Europe’s top competition. While exact figures will not be released until next season, The 13-time Premier League champions will now bank approximately £16.1m for reaching the league phase of the Champions League – based on this year’s figures.
United’s prize pot will only go up further from there, but that money is not guaranteed. They will earn £1.8m per win in the league phase and £600,000 for a draw.
While there is plenty of work to conduct in the summer to ensure that United are prepared to compete on multiple fronts, including appointing a manager, supporters can already begin to dream of sojourns across the continent. After a year without European action, there will be an appetite for the biggest ties to land at United’s lap.
The new group phase, which United have not played in before, features eight matches. Teams are split into four pots based on their UEFA coefficient over the last five years. Each team plays two from each pot, with a total of four home fixtures and four away.
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With 36 teams in the competition, nine sides go into each pot. As it stands, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen are set to make up Pot 1. Atletico Madrid could yet displace one side should they overcome Arsenal and go on to win the Champions League.
Leverkusen have not guaranteed their place in next season’s competition, which would see Atletico move into the pot as the 10th-highest ranked side at the moment. United cannot face teams from their home nation, so are set to play two of Bayern, Real Madrid, PSG, Inter, Barcelona and Atletico or Leverkusen.
Things begin to get messier from there, but in addition to Atletico or Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund are set for Pot 2. Porto will also join them after securing the Portuguese championship ahead of Benfica.
Jose Mourinho’s side and Sporting are ranked high enough for a place in Pot 2, but are battling it out for second in Portugal and will need to navigate a playoff round as well. With Tottenham, Frankfurt, and Atalanta all ranked above Manchester United (who are ranked 21st) in the coefficient but failing to qualify, and only one of Sporting or Benfica able to enter the competition, United stand a good chance of also being in Pot 2, but are borderline.
Villarreal and PSV Eindhoven have also confirmed their places in next season’s Champions League. The Spanish side are likely to be placed in Pot 4 and the Dutch champions in Pot 3.
Despite returning the team to the continent’s most prestigious competition, Carrick does not want his side to ‘overcelebrate’ even though he is pleased with the result.
“I think the work that’s been done and the players, the way they’ve performed, and the teams that we’ve played against and got good results against, I think it’s something that we can take a lot from, for sure,” Carrick said. “I think it was well in the distance, a little bit, if we’re honest, at one point.
“So there has been a lot of good work to put us in a position with three games to go and get that sealed. But it’s not something we’ve spoke about as a group really
” I think it’s not something we over-celebrate. I think it’s a step. We want more. We want to be finishing higher up the league but, certainly there is huge credit deserved that goes to the players and the staff, for putting us in this position, at this stage.”
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