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Winners and losers of the UEFA Champions League group stage draw

It somehow took almost an hour, but the various UEFA dignitaries and their ballyhooed guests managed to get through all of their highlight reels and pull 32 balls from a bunch of bowls. When they finally did, they revealed the makeup of the group stage of this season's Champions League.

This year's format for the seeding was altered from the past. Rather than simply go by the clubs' historical performance in continental competition – the UEFA coefficient – trophy holder Barcelona and the champions of the seven highest-ranked leagues other than the defenders' domestic competition, were put into Pot 1 as the top seeds.

And while this certainly equalized the spread across the countries, as it was intended to, it also had a significant effect on the outcome of the draw.

So let's sort through the results of Thursday's glitzy affair and separate the winners from the losers.

WINNERS

Manchester United

The one-time juggernauts and three-time champions of this tournament will celebrate their return to the continent's elite competition – after a super rare absence last year – with the softest draw they could have reasonably hoped for. Not only did United get the weakest Pot 1 seed in PSV – with a coefficient half that of most of the other top-tier teams – and CSKA Moscow, which scraped into this tournament, it'll also have another pair of easy assignments. And while Wolfsburg isn't to be underestimated, sporting one of the most potent attacks in Europe, United will be elated with this outcome.

PSV

The club from Eindhoven became the biggest beneficiary of the changed format. Its first Dutch Eredivisie title in seven years immediately bought PSV a top seed, even though its coefficient would have put it in Pot 3 just a year ago. The Dutch league ranks eighth in Europe, making PSV the final top seed. Not only that, but it got a forgiving slate of opponents as well.

Atletico Madrid

Runners-up just two seasons ago, Los Colchoneros, who did very good business in this summer's transfer window, helped both their domestic and European chances with an easy draw against Benfica, Galatasaray and Astana. The former two were among the weakest in their pots and the latter is making its European debut and has a coefficient of just 3.8 – less than a 30th of Atletico's 120.99. Atleti should advance at a canter, facilitating their campaign to recapture the Spanish crown they lost last year.

Chelsea's draw had to have brought a smile to Jose Mourinho's face. (Getty Images)
Chelsea's draw had to have brought a smile to Jose Mourinho's face. (Getty Images)

Chelsea

Jose Mourinho's Londoners drew one very strong opponent in the draw: geography. With trips to Portugal, Ukraine and Israel, they'll be racking up the miles during the group stage. But then again, in facing FC Porto, Dynamo Kyiv and Maccabi Tel Aviv, they can hardly complain about how things shook out for them. If they were a college team, after all, difficult questions would be asked about their strength of schedule.

Group H

If you had told people that this was a Europa League group, most of them would probably have believed you. Zenit St. Petersburg, Valencia and Olympique Lyon aren't bad teams or undeserving of being there, but taken together, they are easily the weakest collective of the bunch. Especially considering the fourth team in this quartet is AA Gent. And as such, everybody is a winner, because everybody has a chance of advancing. Except for Gent, which can't even survive this group.

LOSERS

Paris Saint-Germain

While the Parisians with the tall aspirations were handed a manageable group with Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmo, they were unfortunate in a different way. They drew the team with the highest coefficient in both Pot 2 and Pot 3. Real, in fact, has the highest score in all of Europe, courtesy of their title two seasons ago and consistent runs to the semifinals. But since Barca is the defending champion, Real was relegated to the second pot. Which means PSG now has a terrific foe to overcome to win the group and land the coveted seed for the round of 16 draw.

Shakhtar Donetsk

When PSV was promoted by two pots in the new format, the knock-on effect dumped Shakhtar from Pot 2 to Pot 3. That means that instead of facing one top seed, it will face both PSG and Real. That's just a bad stroke of luck, and it makes advancing in the tournament – something that is never easy for a Ukrainian team – almost impossible this time around.

Manchester City

Another year, another group of death for City. Provided you're not a City fan, the club's poor fortune in European draws has become a bit comical. This time around, the Citizens's Group D consists of Italian champions Juventus, back-to-back Europa League champions Sevilla, and Borussia Moenchengladbach, the third-place team in last year's Bundesliga. The chances of City even scraping into the round of 16 and getting knocked out by Barcelona, like the last two seasons, are slim yet again.

Group D

There are no winners in a group of death, only losers, because there are no easy games. The four aforementioned teams have six hard fights to look forward to, which not only limits their chances of advancing but also will put considerable strain on their domestic campaigns, where all four of these clubs have something to prove this year.

Arsenal

Can the Gunners really complain about getting drawn into a group with Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb? Hardly. But the old format would have put them in Pot 1, and they would therefore have avoided Bayern Munich. That would have probably made it easier to win the group and claim a seed for the knockout stages, where Arsenal has traditionally tripped up early on account of drawing a tough opponent.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.