Manchester United: Assesing Their Champions League Group Stage Draw

The draw for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League is always one of the highlights of the footballing season.

The thrill and excitement to see which European dynamos will go head-to-head draws in fans season after season.

Even for those supporters who may not have a team in the competition, this is still considered a more than recognisable and significant moment of the sporting calendar.

This year's draw did not fail to live up to the hype, throwing out one of the most hotly contested groups in the history of the tournament.

United fans will be pleased to hear that they managed to avoid the chaos of a group that involves world beaters and current Spanish champions Real Madrid, back-to-back German Bundesliga Champions Borussia Dortmund and giant of European football and, guess what, Dutch champions AFC Ajax.

Unfortunately (although rather fittingly), the English league title holders, Manchester City, were not so lucky, being thrust into the centre of this "group of death"—or rather, this "group of Champions."

So how did their rivals from across the City fair?

Truth be told, United have somehow seemed to have done it yet again.

It feels, from a Red Devils perspective, that the Champions League group stage draw should really not be much of a worry any more.

Yes, United have had some troubles over the years (the very recent years, in fact) with teams that they should easily dispatched at this early stage of the tournament, but ultimately, they seem to always get the luck of things, being drawn with weaker opponents than their fellow English sides.

Once again, this is the case.

United will have to battle through a group that includes: Braga of Portugal, Galatasaray of Turkey and all-time "worst team in Champions League history" CFR Cluj of Romania.

Let's not get complacent, these are three sides who have fought tooth and nail to earn their place in this competition, and are, by that virtue alone, not teams to be scoffed at.

However, as true as that may be, I'm sure that Arsenal, Chelsea and undoubtedly City, would all happily swap places with Fergie's boys if they were given half the chance.

In a season that follows a disastrous European campaign for the Red Devil's, this is a welcoming group in terms of a challenge for United, who will want to ease themselves back into the European groove that they seemed to lose for the entirety of last season.

Topping the group must be a priority, and anything less—even a second-place finish—should really be seen as a failure from the former treble-winning side.

This is a chance to make a real indent on the tournament from an early stage, making sides once again fear United as the powerhouse of European football that they really are.

It would be an ask and a half to expect the side to come out with six wins out of six, but even with that being the case it should certainly be a target that Sir Alex sets his men.

Again though, in this competition it's wrong to already put yourself mentally into that second-round draw.

United need to learn from last year's lessons, and put this group to bed as early as they possibly can.

Hopefully for their sake, we won't be witnessing another Europa League consolation disaster this season.

On paper, this group looks far from providing that heartache once more.

But then again, this is football.