Chapter 183 Champions League draw, UEFA's conspiracy!
At 17:45 on the evening of August 29, Monte Carlo in Monaco was ablaze with lights.
Countless football stars and famous coaches gathered together to attend the annual Champions League group stage draw ceremony.
The scene was laid out with a red carpet, and countless reporters gathered on both sides of the red carpet, with all kinds of cameras pointed at the stars and famous coaches from major clubs who got out of the expensive luxury cars.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, the two giants of the Spanish Super League, are still the most popular targets among reporters.
And Welsh player Gareth Bale, who made a sensational world record transfer in the summer, was also besieged by many reporters because of his extremely high popularity and extremely high transfer fee.
Some careful reporters noticed that Ronaldo did not come with Bale. Although the two belong to the same club, they had no communication at all while walking on the red carpet.
It seems that the rumors outside are true. Bale's transfer fee may really break the Portuguese transfer fee record, which makes Ronaldo very unhappy.
When Messi, the other member of the two greatest players, came on the field, his expression was also very serious.
Barcelona's record in recent years has not been good, and the team has been eliminated in the semi-finals twice in a row.
Last season, they were even eliminated by Bayern Munich with a humiliating 7:0!
This made everyone in Barcelona feel angry and want to take revenge on their opponents.
This season, they bought Neymar early, and the team is gearing up for a big performance.
As a result, Vilanova was unable to continue coaching the team due to a recurrence of cancer, and Barcelona experienced a coaching change in the summer.
Due to the departure of Guardiola, Enrique and others, Barcelona has no suitable candidate.
Rosell finally chose the obedient Martino as the head coach of Barcelona.
Martino's ability is mediocre and the outside world is very pessimistic about him.
Everyone knows that this person is just a transitional coach, otherwise Barcelona would not have given him only a short contract of two years.
Due to the superposition of multiple factors, voices from the outside world have already begun to predict the decline of Barcelona before the Champions League this season has even started.
As the core and top player of Barcelona, most of the pressure from the outside world falls on Messi's shoulders, so Messi naturally can't smile.
"Messi is under a lot of pressure!"
When Lin Quan arrived at the scene, he just happened to see Messi's back entering the stadium.
Pellegrini, who coached in La Liga last season, said this with emotion.
Lin Quan nodded. As the core of the team, the responsibilities they bear must be greater than other players.
Seeing the Manchester City players coming, reporters at the scene rushed up one after another, aiming all kinds of cameras at Lin Quan.
At last year's Golden Globe Awards, he was just a little-known supporting actor.
But this year, as his fame and strength continue to grow, his status in European football has also improved a lot.
More and more people regard Lin Quan as the third person besides Messi and Ronaldo.
And as long as he can perform further in major competitions such as the World Cup or the Champions League, it is not impossible for him to stand shoulder to shoulder with Melo in the future.
Reporters naturally dare not neglect such a super rising star.
After last year's experience, Lin Quan is no longer unfamiliar with dealing with such situations.
He smiled and waved to the reporters and fans at the scene, granted some fans' requests for autographs and photos, and then walked into the venue with a calm pace.
Entering the venue, Lin Quan saw several familiar faces.
“Hey, here!”
When Dortmund player Reus saw Lin Quan coming in, he waved to him immediately.
Lin Quan took a look and found that there were no names marked on the seats, which meant that the players could choose their own seats.
According to his status, his seat must be near the front row, even if not the first row, then the second row.
Reus's position is in the fifth row, which can be said to be very far back.
Sitting in the back, it was difficult to find them in the exposure shots of the scene.
However, Lin Quan didn't care much about these things. He didn't care about the order of seniority and just sat next to Isco.
"Are you here alone?"
Lin Quan looked around and didn't see Reus' teammates, so he asked curiously.
"Lewandowski is injured, I came here to replace him!"
Reus explained, and then asked: "How is it, is the Premier League fun?"
Royce looked Lin Quan up and down, as if checking if he was missing any limbs or something.
"It's OK, but the defenders there are too enthusiastic. I often have close interactions with them!"
"Haha, the kind of interaction where people are thrown to the ground?"
Reus gloated that although he had never played in the Premier League, he had heard about the Premier League's game style.
"Why don't you try it and find out?"
Royce raised his hands in surrender:
"Come on, please forgive me. With my fragile physique, going to the Premier League would be like seeking death, right?"
This kid is quite self-aware. If he really came to the Premier League, with the intensity of fouls committed by Premier League defenders, Reus's injury frequency would probably increase greatly.
"Still injured this season? Can't you talk to your coach and reduce your playing time? According to his tactics, unless you are Super Saiyans, you will not be able to withstand it!"
“Ahem!”
As soon as Lin Quan finished speaking, he heard a middle-aged man coughing nearby.
He turned his head and found that Dortmund coach Klopp had sat next to him.
Lin Quan glared at Reus. This guy definitely saw Klopp coming but didn't tell him.
Royce was overjoyed, looking as if his evil plan had succeeded.
"Lin, you seem to have something against me?"
Klopp asked Lin Quan curiously.
"No, no, I have great respect for you, Coach Klopp, and the achievements you have made with the team."
"Really? But I just heard you criticize my tactics, Marco, didn't I?"
Royce nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I can testify that it was this kid who said bad things!"
Royce decisively sold Lin Quan!
Lin Quan's face turned black. Royce was too despicable. He actually tried to sow discord! He would have to be dealt with later!
"Ahem, that's not what I meant. Coach, please listen to my explanation!"
Lin Quan didn't want to conflict with Klopp. He had no social connections with the other party and there was no need to offend others.
"Yeah, I'm listening!"
Klopp looked like he was saying, "I'd like to see what brilliant ideas you can come up with, kid."
"High-pressure defense is the future development trend of football. Its emergence will replace many current defensive tactics."
Klopp's eyes lit up and he felt like he had met a close friend.
I didn’t expect that this kid, at such a young age, has such a profound understanding of the development of modern football.
He felt a little bit of anticipation in his heart, so he said, "Go on!"
"Like Spain's possession football, high pressing is derived from the Dutch's total attack and defense tactics.
The purpose of our high-pressure pressing is to shorten the time the opponent's players have to handle the ball.
Forcing them to make quick decisions will increase the opponent's turnover rate and give us the opportunity to grab the ball in the opponent's half and complete the offense.
The closer you are to the opponent's goal, the easier it is to complete the attack.
I watched Dortmund’s games and saw that many goals were scored after counter-attacking in the opponent’s half.”
Klopp nodded repeatedly with a satisfied smile on his face. This kid really saw through his tactics.
Dortmund players pressed like mad dogs in order to force the opposing players to make forced mistakes and launch an attack on the spot.
If they want to attack from their backcourt, they need to break through the opponent's three lines of defense.
But if they can force the opposing players to make mistakes and get the ball in the opponent's half or even near the penalty area.
Then they only have to face one line of defense of the opponent, and the ball is in the hands of the opponent one second, and in the next second it is in the hands of Dortmund.
This rapid transition between offense and defense will make it difficult for the opposing players to respond in time.
This greatly increased the success rate of their attack.
"However, this requires a lot from the players. They need to have the following characteristics: good skills, good physical fitness, strong impact and strong execution! If there are only a group of engineers on the field, they may be able to grab the ball, but it will be difficult for them to organize their offense.
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If the players on the field do not have speed and impact, the opponents will get into position very quickly, and they will find it difficult to break through even if there is only one line of defense.
If the players do not have enough physical strength or tactical execution, they will not even be able to complete the task of high-pressure pressing.
Reus is a player who perfectly meets these requirements, so in your tactics, Reus's position may be more prominent than Lewandowski.
This also leads to Reus's high attendance rate, but he is a glass man. The higher the attendance rate, the more serious the injury, and the worse the final result may be. "
Royce protested against Lin Quan's claim that he was a glass man, but was ignored by the two men.
Klopp thought seriously about Lin Quan’s words.
The departure of Gotze this season is like adding insult to injury for Dortmund, which has directly increased the offensive pressure on Lewandowski and Reus.
The two of them already have a lot of responsibilities to bear, and further increasing their burden would not be very friendly to them.
Since joining the team, Reus has suffered many injuries, both major and minor, and is indeed showing signs of becoming a glass man.
If the team continues to operate at such a high load, it might really be destroyed by injuries.
Thinking of this, Klopp nodded: "I will seriously consider your suggestion, thank you, Lin!"
This thank you was sincere, because no one had ever told him these things from an outsider's objective perspective before.
Lin Quan was the first one! "You're welcome. I'm just talking big. You are the one who can really solve the problem!"
Lin Quan is not being modest, he is really just a big talker.
He really can't think of a solution to Dortmund's current predicament on behalf of Klopp.
Guardiola arrived late and just entered the venue.
After entering, he looked around hurriedly and finally found Lin Quan at the back.
Why is this kid sitting here?
Just as he was about to go over to say hello to Lin Quan, he saw Lin Quan and Klopp having a very pleasant conversation.
This made Guardiola stunned for a moment. After hesitating for a while, he did not choose to go forward to disturb the two of them. He sat in another row with mixed feelings.
…
After talking with Klopp, the draw ceremony began immediately.
The two hosts responsible for hosting the draw ceremony were Pedro Pinto from CNN Sports Channel and Melanie, the winner of Miss Switzerland in 1996.
Before the draw ceremony officially began, the host announced the list of the best players in Europe last season.
As the Bundesliga Golden Boot winner, Lin Quan made the final roster.
But it is obvious that he is just a runner-up. If nothing unexpected happens, the best player award should be given to Robben or Ribery, the hero of Bayern's Champions League victory.
As expected, the winner was the scarred man Ribery.
Between him and Robben, the judges on the scene chose Ribery.
Although Robben redeemed himself in the final and scored a crucial goal.
But in the eyes of professionals, Ribery is more important to the team.
After the award ceremony for the best European player, the next highlight came, the group stage draw ceremony.
According to the rules of the Champions League draw, the 32 teams participating in the Champions League group stage will be divided into four tiers.
The eight teams with the highest points will be drawn first as the first-tier seeded teams.
Then one team will be drawn from the second, third and fourth pots to join each group.
According to the principle of avoiding teams from the same division, if teams from the same division are drawn into the same group, they will automatically be moved to the next group.
The eight seeded teams were quickly drawn:
The seeded team of Group A is Manchester United, the seeded team of Group B is Real Madrid, Group C is Benfica of the Portuguese Super League, Group D is defending champion Bayern, Group E is Chelsea, Group F is Arsenal, Barcelona was drawn into Group H, and another Portuguese Super League team Porto was drawn into Group G.
Among the eight seeded teams, there are two from La Liga, three from the Premier League, one from the Bundesliga, and two from the Portuguese Super League.
Serie A and Ligue 1 do not have any seeded teams due to their poor performance in the Champions League.
However, the Portuguese Super League, which is outside the top five leagues, actually has two seeded teams, which is quite impressive.
Among these eight seeded teams, the strongest ones are obviously Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Especially the defending champions Bayern, I guess no one would want to be in the same group with them.
After drawing the teams in the first tier, Dutch legendary football star Cruyff came on stage and was responsible for drawing the teams in the second tier.
The teams drawn into Group A are Shakhtar Donetsk, Group B is Juventus, Group C is Paris Saint-Germain, Group D is CSKA Moscow, Group E is Werder Bremen, Group F is Marseille, Group H is AC Milan, and Group G is Atletico Madrid.
Among them, what surprised Lin Quan was that Werder Bremen was actually classified as a second-tier team.
They actually have more European points than Manchester City, which makes him very curious: How bad was Manchester City's previous Champions League performance!
After the first two rounds of draws, the death group has emerged.
That is Group B and Group H, Real Madrid plus Juventus, and Barcelona plus AC Milan.
Anyone who joins these two groups as a third party will probably find it difficult to qualify.
It just so happens that there are no Premier League teams in these two groups. According to the principle of avoiding the same group, Manchester City can only go to five groups, and the probability of being drawn into these two groups is as high as 40%!
People at Manchester City have started to worry. Could it be so unlucky to be drawn into these two groups?
The third star to appear was England star Owen, who first drew Leverkusen into Group A.
Then Galatasaray of the Turkish Super League was drawn into Group B.
This result made Manchester City feel relieved. There is one less death group, and the probability is halved.
Galatasaray's players were not afraid of this result. What's the point of being afraid of the old lady of Real Madrid? The head coaches of Real Madrid and Juventus looked serious after seeing this result.
The teams in the Turkish Super League are not that strong, but it is difficult to play at home in the Turkish Super League. The fans there are extremely crazy. They are even willing to go to Eastern Europe to play football in the ice and snow, but are unwilling to go to the Turkish Super League, because once they get there, no one knows what accidents will happen.
The draw continued and Olympiacos of the Greek League was drawn into Group C.
Then, Owen picked out another team. After taking a look, a smile appeared on his face: "Manchester City!"
The host quickly put Manchester City's team into Group D. In the same group, there are already three teams: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and Manchester City.
The camera at the scene was aimed at Bayern's head coach Guardiola, but not at Manchester City's head coach Pellegrini, but instead gave a shot to Lin Quan.
Lin Quan had heard from people that the group draw for the Champions League was arranged, and he was a little skeptical before.
But now, he really believed it! Guardiola and Lin Quan staged a father-son duel. If you say that this gimmick was not deliberately created by UEFA, he would never believe it! (End of this chapter)