Chapter 240 Champions League knockout draw ceremony European Golden Boy Award Ceremony!
December 13, the sixth round of the Champions League group stage.
Manchester United played against Lyon. Although both teams had already qualified and their group rankings were determined, neither team fielded their main lineups and let the young players have a training match.
The final result was Manchester United 3-2 Lyon, Greenwood scored twice and James scored one goal.
The latter is a midfielder of Manchester United U18 with good advancing and attacking abilities. He was originally Chu Feng's teammate in the youth team, but their current status is very different.
Manchester United currently has a surplus of midfielders, with McTominay, Kovacic and others unable to play in the game. Even if James can enter the first team, he may only be able to sit on the bench.
Therefore, Mourinho decided to loan James to Everton for training during the winter window, and the latter naturally had no reason to refuse.
Late at night, the Champions League group stage came to an end, and the list of the top 16 was released. The media rushed to report it, fearing that their traffic would be snatched away by others.
It’s a pity that there is no dark horse entering the knockout stage this year, because every top club has performed stably enough.
Group A: Dortmund, Atletico Madrid
B: Barcelona, Tottenham
C: Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool D: Porto, Schalke 04 E: Bayern, Ajax
F: Manchester United, Lyon
G: Real Madrid, Roma
H: Manchester City, Juventus
Fans all over the world are looking forward to the draw ceremony four days later. After all, none of the second-placed teams in the group are easy to deal with.
Who knows, the Champions League final may be staged ahead of schedule.
Atletico Madrid fans are also starting to get anxious because they might really be drawn against Manchester United, and their journey in the Champions League might end there.
And according to UEFA's usual style, it prefers the draw result with the largest traffic.
Fans of other clubs also started discussing. - [How come Porto is the first in the group? ] - [Their group is full of weak teams, such as Galatasaray and other second-rate teams. Manchester United easily beat them 3-0! ] - [Atletico Madrid, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Juventus are all second in the group. Three of them have entered the Champions League semi-finals in recent years. Atletico Madrid and Juventus have also played in the finals. This is full of drama! ] - [There are only two weak teams in the second place, Ajax and Schalke 04. ] - [To be honest, you really don't underestimate Ajax. Their head coach Ten Hag is very good. The team's goalkeeper Onana is known as Neuer's successor. The 19-year-old captain De Ligt, as well as De Jong and Ziyech, a young and powerful central axis, can play 3-3 with Bayern! ] - [Indeed, I watched their game. They only lack a explosive winger to make the lineup complete. 】 - 【I hope Manchester United can draw Schalke 04. 】 - 【That's boring, it's better to draw Juventus, C Ronaldo and Xiao Chu will meet in advance! 】 - 【Don't do that, Juventus is in hot form recently. 】 - 【Good for Atletico Madrid, beat up Felipe again, I think he will be angry! 】 - 【Manchester United has too many games in February, it's better to draw a weak team, otherwise it will easily lead to a complete collapse. 】 - 【By the way, the Golden Boy Award ceremony is coming soon, who do you think will win the Golden Boy Award? 】 - 【Do you even need to ask? Of course it's Xiao Chu! 】 - 【.】
December 17th.
After the match between Manchester United and Cardiff City, Chu Feng boarded a flight to Nyon, Switzerland, and Mourinho was with him.
"The performance was pretty good today, and we scored two goals," Mourinho said casually.
"The main reason is that Cardiff City is relatively weak, otherwise we wouldn't be able to win 5-1." Chu Feng answered modestly. Although he only played for 52 minutes in today's game, he scored two headers in the first half with the help of set pieces and corner kicks.
Then the Manchester United players became more active and Lingard also scored two goals and one assist.
"By the way, I heard some media say that the personal strength of the 2017 FIFA cover characters, James Rodriguez, Hazard, Martial and Reus, has declined. How do you feel about that?" Mourinho is completely different in private than at work. He is not so strict and rigid, and he even jokes occasionally.
"I feel okay." Chu Feng said with a smile.
The two talked about the League Cup match on the 19th, and Mourinho made it clear that Chu Feng did not need to play.
Besides, even if Chu Feng wanted to play, he couldn't, because at that time, he should be in Turin to attend the European Golden Boy Award ceremony.
On the 20th, they will rush to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the 2018 Club World Cup semi-final, where Manchester United will face Kashima Antlers of the J-League.
If we can beat Kashima Antlers, there will be a final in three days.
It's a very tight schedule. But the key point is that Manchester United still has a league game on the 24th, away against Liverpool.
However, the Club World Cup is not very prestigious, and Manchester United is basically in an absolute advantage and does not need to send out its full main lineup.
But the long journey has a great impact on the players' condition, and Mourinho is now extremely worried.
Three hours later, the plane landed in Switzerland.
As soon as Mourinho and Chu Feng walked out of the airport hall, they saw many fans wearing Manchester United jerseys waving at them wildly outside the cordon.
The spotlights next to it were also flashing.
As the winner of last season's Champions League, Manchester United has attracted a lot of attention and gained a large number of fans.
Chu Feng put on a professional smile and waved enthusiastically.
Boarding the business car prepared by UEFA, the master and apprentice came to Nyon again. When they arrived at the UEFA headquarters, the outside was already surrounded by a sea of people.
On both sides of the red carpet are posters of representatives of the top 16 clubs.
Chu Feng looked at his photo carefully, and recalled the first time he came here. The person on the Manchester United poster was still Pogba. At that time, he was still an insignificant young player, and even his seat was arranged at the back of the venue.
Unexpectedly, in just over a year, he has been compared with football superstars and even won the Player of the Year award.
One can't help but sigh.
Soon, players representing other clubs also arrived. Ronaldo still looked grim as usual, Salah's afro was shaking, and there were also De Bruyne, Neymar and others who had just met a few days ago.
Chu Feng greeted everyone except Simeone and Griezmann. He had no feelings for Atletico Madrid players.
Seeing this, Simeone snorted coldly and sat down in his seat.
Not long after, the drawing ceremony officially began.
The event was hosted by UEFA Deputy Secretary General Marchetti, with French women's football star Laura George and final host city ambassador Luis Garcia as guests.
The opening session was still a nonsensical speech session, and the players in the audience were whispering.
"Kevin, who do you think you can draw?" Chu Feng turned his head to look at De Bruyne on the right. He always felt that Manchester City had good luck, or Guardiola had good luck.
"Schalke 04, they look the weakest." De Bruyne was not polite and directly chose the best draw.
"Haha, then I wish you good luck!" Chu Feng said with a smile.
The coach representative seat not far away.
UEFA's position division is very strange. Guardiola, Allegri and Ten Hag sit close to each other. The heads of the three people appear so dazzling under the soft light.
Mourinho is still thinking about how to rotate players.
After Marchetti finished reading his speech, he continued: "The video referee system (VAR) will be introduced in the knockout stage of the Champions League this season!"
The venue suddenly became noisy, and even though everyone knew the news in advance, they still couldn't help but discuss it in low voices.
After all, VAR will have a certain impact on the team's tactics, such as offside, tactical fouls and so on.
When the venue quieted down again, as the UEFA Champions League theme song sounded, the staff carried the glass tank containing the balls onto the field.
Garcia pulled out a small ball and showed the note inside to the camera.
"Liverpool!"
Garcia's expression suddenly became serious.
In the year of the Istanbul Miracle, the world only remembered the tragedy of AC Milan, but no one noticed how Liverpool reached the final.
In the round of 16 against Lewukusen, Garcia scored three goals in two games, in the quarter-finals against Juventus, Garcia scored a brilliant goal, and in the semi-finals against Chelsea, Garcia scored a ghost goal.
It can be said that Garcia helped Liverpool to the final! But today, it seems that he will draw a bad lottery for his old club . George also took out a small ball.
"Bayern Munich!"
Kovac's face turned dark in an instant, and he obviously couldn't accept the result of the draw.
After the end of last season, Heynckes made it clear that he would not renew his contract, so Bayern found Kovac from Frankfurt.
However, since he had no experience coaching a top club, he had some difficulty adapting to the local environment when he first arrived at Bayern.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Although the league results are still acceptable, Bayern is the only one dominating the Bundesliga.
If Bayern were to go head-to-head with Liverpool with their current strength, the result would probably not be very good.
Klopp adjusted his glasses and was not too worried.
Because he knows Bayern too well.
As the slips of paper were displayed one after another, the results of the Champions League knockout draw were announced! Everyone's eyes were on the LED screen.
Previously, due to a lot of hype from the sports media, the outside world knew that Chu Feng wanted to face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, but no one took Chu Feng's words seriously at the time. Who knew that Chu Feng's dream would come true today.
Simeone felt his temples throbbing wildly. He really didn't want to meet Manchester United in the round of 16.
Even though Atletico Madrid has had very good results recently, Manchester United has not stood still. Although Manchester United has been stumbling in the Champions League and the league recently, that is a normal phenomenon under Mourinho's rotation system.
Only by facing each other on the field can you understand how strong Manchester United is.
Besides, Manchester United also has a BUG-level character.
Mourinho's mood was not much better. What he feared was bound to happen. Atletico Madrid was not just a nobody. Who in the world could draw with Barcelona and beat Real Madrid? Manchester United's schedule was already tight, and they still had to play two high-intensity games.
Atletico Madrid is still the kind of team that is dirty to its core. Some players will definitely get injured during the game, which will inevitably have a negative impact on Manchester United's league and cup competitions.
Guardiola smiled very happily as they drew the only three "weak teams".
Valverde and Santiago also had smiles on their faces. Although Lyon and Ajax are not weak, they are much better than Tottenham, Juventus, Roma and other teams. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are big gift packages.
In the player representative seat.
Chu Feng was surrounded by the eyes of many players. They were probably sighing that his mouth was blessed, otherwise how could he say anything? However, they were somewhat gloating. If the Champions League champions last season fell in the round of 16, Manchester United would bear the laughing stock for the next few years, and even the value of last season's Champions League title would be questioned.
Chu Feng didn't have too many thoughts.
Since the result is already determined, there is no point in complaining. It is better to focus on training.
Besides, it is Atletico Madrid that should be nervous, after all, Manchester United just beat them.
"Chu, are you going to Turin later?" De Ligt came over, "We should be on the same flight."
In Manchester United's friendly match against Ajax at the beginning of the season, the two exchanged jerseys and contact information, and occasionally liked each other's posts on social platforms. Their relationship can be considered pretty good.
"Well, let's go together then?" Chu Feng quite likes De Ligt's personality.
As the two were chatting, a little black boy came over and said, "Hello, I'm Vinicius."
"Chu, that punch of yours was so cool. I have been annoyed with Felipe for a long time. He makes big movements when playing football and he is intentionally or unintentionally racist." Vinicius' tone was full of admiration.
Although he is one year younger than Chu Feng, he was discovered by Real Madrid early on, but he did not have a chance to play last season. Now that Ronaldo has left Real Madrid and joined Juventus, Vinicius has become the future star of Real Madrid.
Vinicius witnessed Chu Feng's rise last season and naturally regarded Chu Feng as his goal to catch up with.
"Hello." Chu Feng took out his mobile phone from his pocket and exchanged contact information with Vinicius.
He thought that if he continued playing for a few more years, his network of contacts would probably spread across the five major leagues, and he would be able to be invited to dinner at any away game.
After a while, Foden, Kluivert and others joined Chu Feng's small circle.
Since the Champions League knockout draw ceremony and the European Golden Boy Award ceremony were held only one day apart, everyone did not participate in the latter event, but boarded a flight to Turin, Italy. - The next day, Turin, as the third largest city in Italy, has a profound history and culture. There are two Serie A teams here, Juventus and Torino.
The former has won seven consecutive Serie A titles.
The streets and alleys are full of football elements. Although Serie A has declined due to economic reasons, the football atmosphere among the people has not decreased but increased.
"Chu, I've read your personal brand plan. You can indeed start with clothing and have a small-scale cooperation with Puma." Mendes rubbed his sore brows. "When I finish Chris's matter, I will help you negotiate with Puma as soon as possible."
"Well, let's let the teams of both sides contact each other in advance, and then investigate the markets in China and Europe." Chu Feng took a sip of coffee.
He's interested in personal branding, but not much.
Now his focus is still on football. After all, that is his foundation. Winning the championship is better than any MLM method.
"Let's go, the award ceremony will start soon." Mendes patted Chu Feng on the shoulder.
He was extremely grateful that he had humbled himself and not only took advantage of the relationship between Manchester United Club and Mourinho, but also went to find the still unknown Chu Feng in person.
"I guess that fat guy Raiola must be regretting this to death!" Mendes said secretly in his heart.
Soon the two arrived at the OGR venue, which was already packed with stars.
Italian football bigwigs such as Chiellini, Nedved and Maldini attended the event, as well as rising stars from the five major leagues.
Accompanied by crazy flashing spotlights!
"Congratulations to Juventus player Gliona for winning the European Women's Golden Boy Award!"
"Congratulations to Mendes for winning the European Best Player Agent Award!"
"Congratulations to Manchester United player Chu for winning the 2018 European Golden Boy Award!"
(End of this chapter)