After the usual tedious presentation held by tournament beurocrats in Monaco (ah, the home of football), the Champions League drawer was finally unveiled in all its shiny glory.
Judging by the results, it looks as if the famed group of death has been avoided across the board, saying that, there’s some tasty match ups.
Manchester City’s path to the next phase perhaps looks the toughest of all the English clubs with Juventus waiting in the wings along with Europa League experts Sevilla in group D. The Citizens will no doubt be glad to have avoided the likes of Bayern and Barcelona.
The honour of facing Pep’s side will yet again be Arsene Wenger, with the Gunners also facing up to winnable ties against Olympiakos and Zagreb.
Bar any absolute nightmare moments, Manchester United should sail through Group B with Dutch champions PSV, of course facing their former top scorer Depay, looking likely to be battling a Kevin De Bruyne-less Wolfsburg for the runner up position.
Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be sporting a wry smile with the prospect of facing his old club Malmö along with a giant clash against Real Madrid in group A.
Finally Group G will see an emotional return to FC Porto for Jose Mourinho, the home of his first Champions League triumph all the way back in 2004.
In all, there would need to be some major upsets for all English sides not to make an appearance in the next phase.
Of course, far stranger occurrences have happened.