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Manchester City head into Thursday's Champions League draw looking to have their best year yet in the competition.

The Blues failed to get out of their group in 2011 and 2012, then were knocked out in the first knockout stage last year despite a comeback win over Bayern Munich in the group phase.

But Manuel Pellegrini - who almost made the semi-finals of the tournament two years ago with Malaga - has strengthened his squad over the summer and talk from the Blues camp is that they are determined to go deeper this time.

City will be in the second of four pots for the draw, and will be hoping to top their group to give themselves the best chance of an easier draw for the last-16.

The Blues cannot draw either any other team in Pot Two or English sides at this stage of the competition. M.E.N Sport looks at the best and worst case scenarios for when the balls start being picked from 4.45pm tomorrow.

Pot One

Worst case: As ever with the top eight teams, you can take your pick on who to avoid. A draw with Munich or any of the Spanish trio would certainly be eye-catching, but all would be tricky to get the better of over two games. Of those, Madrid look the strongest. They are the competition holders, have a top class manager and have added Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez to their squad.

Best case: A Porto side shorn of Fernando and Eliaquim Mangala should not hold any problems for the Blues, and look weaker than the Benfica side that won the Portuguese league last year. If Arsenal don't make the group stages, Schalke would also be a reasonable draw.*

This is what City's Champions League squad would look like as picked by fans last month.

Pot Three

Worst case: Frank de Boer's Ajax won the Dutch league last season and were unlucky not to qualify from a Champions League group containing Barcelona and Milan; they also had the better of City two years ago when the teams met. The winner of the Napoli-Athletic qualifier will be one to avoid too.

Best case: Olympiacos have plenty of pedigree in the competition but do not have the strength to challenge a side as good as City's. The fact that their first-leg victory over United last year was seen as such a nadir for the Reds says all about how the Greek side are viewed. City also comfortably beat CSKA in both games last year.

Pot Four

Worst case: AS Roma are the standouts in this ensemble. The Italian side won ten games to start Serie A last season and only Juventus finished above them in the final standings and have strengthened over the summer.

Best case: NK Maribor should be a six-point banker. The Slovenian side somehow scraped into the Europa League knockout stages last year and have only made it to this draw after being put against Celtic, a side only still in qualifying because of an administrative error in the previous round.

Worst possible draw: Real Madrid, CITY, Ajax, Roma

Best possible draw: Porto, CITY, Olympiacos, NK Maribor

*Schalke are currently in Pot Two, but could be bumped up if Besiktas knock Arsenal out in Wednesday night's final qualifying games.