Manchester City's prospects of success in the Champions League next season could be damaged after crashing out of the competition at the last-16 stage in Barcelona.

City are borderline whether they are placed in either the second or third group of seeds for the 2015-16 group stages and risk a potential draw with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, or Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, if they don't improve their UEFA coefficient and drop into pot three.

Pellegrini's men - who lost 1-0 in the Nou Camp on Wednesday and 3-1 overall on aggregate - are currently ranked the 16th best team in Europe but that could fall after they failed to make this season's quarter-finals.

A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona edged out City with a 1-0 win in the Nou Camp to end their Euro dream

Manchester City could drop down into pot three after crashing out of the Champions League

Vincent Kompany and his Manchester City team-mates could not overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit

CURRENT TOP 16 CLUBS BY EUROPEAN COEFFICIENT (IN ORDER) Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Schalke, Arsenal, Porto, Manchester United, Paris St Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Zenit St Petersburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City

*Liverpool are only ranked 40th so are guaranteed a tough draw if they finish in the top four. Advertisement

Coefficients are based on European performances over the last five seasons which is why Manchester United are placed higher than City despite not qualifying last season. Arsenal's ranking also remains high because they have reached the Champions League knockout stages every year in the time span.

City have complained in the past of unfavourable draws in the Champions League group stages hampering their progress. Despite more than £1billion invested into the club since 2008, the Abu Dhabi owners have not seen their side progress beyond the first knockout stage of the competition.

They failed to qualify from a tough group in 2011-12 after being paired with Napoli, Bayern Munich and Villarreal and suffered the same fate the following season against Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax.

Their co-efficient has risen since and they were able to finish second in their group this season after being placed among the second seeds and being drawn against Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and Roma.

However, UEFA have changed their seeding policy for next season and the domestic champions of England, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal and Russia will automatically be top seeds alongside the winners of this year's competition.

Man United will be placed in pot two if they finish inside the top four despite last season's poor campaign

Chelsea are ranked the fourth best side in Europe - behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich

The second pot will be made up of the next eight highest-ranked clubs – and City can't be certain of that. Among the clubs just below them in the listings are Juventus who look certain to be top seeds as Italian champions and Sevilla, Inter Milan and Napoli who are all still in the Europa League and can improve their coefficient in that competition.

There are still a lot of twists and turns in the domestic leagues before next season's seedings are announced and of course City still have to confirm their own participation by finishing in the top four of the Premier League.

But there is no doubt the outcome in the Nou Camp, where they have to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit, could have an effect on City.

This is how next season's Champions League group seedings would look if the season ended during the current stage of the campaign:

Top seeds: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Lyon, Benfica, Zenit St Petersburg and Juventus

Second pot: Atletico Madrid (ranked 5th), Arsenal (8th), Porto (9th), Manchester United (10th), Paris St Germain (11th), Valencia (13th), Bayer Leverkusen (15th) and Manchester City (16th)

City are particularly vulnerable because they could be replaced by Schalke in the second pot if the German side, currently fifth in the Bundesliga, finished in the top four.