Champions League draw results 2015: Group D is an all-time great Group of Death

Want to blame the new Champions League draw format for this Group of Death? The only reason you can is because none of these teams would have been in Pot 1 under the old rules. The only reason this was possible is that Juventus won Serie A, putting them a pot higher than usual. So the toughest group in the competition doesn’t feature any of the “top eight” teams.

Still, it’s easy to picture the winner of this group making a run to the semifinal or better. Manchester City look much improved over last season, Sevilla were very deserving Europa League winners and Borussia Mönchengladbach, though probably the weakest side here, have a very good defensive manager.

Juventus have done some fantastic business this summer, but much of it has involved long-term thinking. They’ll be better off in the long run for what they’ve done, but Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez will be big losses this season. City, meanwhile, have kept all of their aging stars while adding Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Otamendi and presumably Kevin De Bruyne; Fabian Delph for James Milner is just about like-for-like. Yaya Toure appears fully fit and motivated, too, which is better than a new signing.

Kingsley Coman and Pablo Dybala appear to be on the road to becoming world class superstars, but this is probably not the year either reaches that level. It’s unlikely that Kwadwo Asamoah and Stefano Sturaro match the output of Arturo Vidal either. But the good news for Juventus is that all of those players are still really, really good right now, and will probably help them to a solid season. They’re just not as good as City at the moment, and there’s no shame in that. This is a perfectly sensible rebuilding year that should be pretty light on pain as well.

Drawn into another group, Sevilla might even be favorites to win, but this one is brutal. New signings Yevhen Konoplyanka and Ciro Immobile look to have added some punch to their attack, while Fernando Llorente arrives from Juventus to add another dimension up top. The key for Sevilla will be getting another healthy year out of Ever Banega, a top talent who has struggled to make the most of his potential due to injuries and off-the-pitch issues.

‘Gladbach are an excellent side, but one that will probably find themselves overwhelmed in this group. The loss of Max Kruse was massive, but his replacement Josip Drmić should do better in Lucien Favre’s system than Roger Schmidt’s at Bayer Leverkusen. Nico Schulz was their other excellent summer signing and adds depth to both the midfield and defense. Keep an eye on Patrick Herrmann, their star attacker who gets better each season.

When he’s on his game, he’s one of the top players in the world. He wasn’t on his game often last season, but he’s been at his best in Manchester City’s first three games this season.

It would be shocking if this group didn’t go down to the wire, with everyone having something to play for on the final day. There is no real key match. The answer is all of them, with the final day being must-watch.