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Manchester United have learned their league-phase draw for their return to the Champions League, with Michael Carrick’s side set to compete in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since autumn 2023. United will play four matches at Old Trafford and four away from home. Bayern Munich, Roma, RB Leipzig and Sabah will visit Manchester, while the Reds will travel to Atletico Madrid, Sporting CP, Villarreal and Como.
United supporters have been handed an attractive collection of away fixtures, with several trips offering plenty beyond the football itself. Bruno Fernandes will have a particularly memorable return to Lisbon when United face his former club and boyhood side, Sporting CP. The Portuguese captain will also be keen to help United settle an old score against Atletico Madrid, who eliminated the Reds in the last 16 of the 2021/22 Champions League. The most intriguing trip, however, could be to Italy to face Como. Managed by former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas and featuring highly rated midfielder Nico Paz, Como are emerging as one of Serie A’s most ambitious clubs.
Backed by billionaire ownership, the club have made clear their intention to establish themselves among Italy’s elite. They have even invested in their Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium, adding a new stand during the summer to increase capacity to around 12,500. If UEFA approves the renovated ground for Champions League football, United supporters could find themselves watching their team beside the shores of Lake Como. It would be an unusually picturesque setting for a European away day.
Four clubs will be making their Champions League debut this season: Como, LASK, Viking and Sabah. Two of them have been drawn alongside United, giving Carrick’s side a couple of opponents without any previous experience of this level of European competition. Como will welcome both Paris Saint-Germain and United to their lakeside home, while Sabah will host Borussia Dortmund, Napoli and Slavia Prague in Azerbaijan.
Sabah’s manager Valdas Dambrauskas also has one of the more unusual routes into professional coaching. The Lithuanian used money won on the television quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” to fund a trip to England, where he completed coaching courses and began working towards a career in football management.
Carrick will ultimately be judged on how far United can progress, and a top-eight finish in the league phase would be the ideal outcome. That would send them directly into the last 16 and eliminate the need for a potentially difficult two-legged play-off in February. United have not reached the Champions League quarter-finals since April 2019, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were eliminated by Barcelona. Since then, they have reached the Europa League final twice but have struggled to establish themselves among the continent’s strongest teams. The squad has been assembled with the intention of competing on four fronts, and United will hope to still be involved in the Champions League when the quarter-finals arrive in April. They lack the attacking firepower of European heavyweights such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, but United have enough quality to cause problems over two legs. Much could depend on Fernandes once again. If the captain reaches his best level at the right moment, Carrick’s side could have a genuine opportunity to reach the last eight.
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