UEFA poised to make draw in Monaco for group stages of the 2012/13 competition
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard celebrates with the UEFA Champions League Trophy
The top four clubs in last season's Barclays Premier League will find out who they will face in the opening stages of this season's UEFA Champions League when the group stage draw is made in Monaco on Thursday at 5pm BST.
Defending champions Chelsea, who defeated Bayern Munich to win the title in May, have been placed in seeding pot one together with three-time champions Manchester Unitedand 2006 finalists Arsenal.
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Porto and Milan are in the same pot, meaning the Barclays Premier League trio will avoid them in the group stages.
Reigning Barclays Premier League champions Manchester City have been placed with the likes of Valencia, Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk in pot two.
The final 10 teams for the group stage draw were confirmed this week after the play-off round second legs.
Barclays Premier League teams cannot be drawn together in the same group.
The group stage of this season's competition begins on 18th-19th September and finishes on 4th-5th December.
The final will take place at Wembley Stadium, London on 25th May 2013.
Pot One: Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Porto, AC Milan.
Pot Two: Valencia, Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, Schalke, ManchesterCity, Braga, Dynamo Kiev.
Pot Three: Olympiacos, Ajax, Anderlecht, Juventus, Spartak Moscow, Paris St Germain, Lille, Galatasaray.
Pot Four: Celtic, Borussia Dortmund, BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, CFR Cluj, Malaga, Montpellier, FC Nordsjaelland.
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