Chapter 537: The European Champions League Version of the Three Kingdoms
The Bundesliga starts with one game per week, and the schedule is relatively loose.
The Champions League group stage draw happened to be on Thursday night, and Bayern's players all had more time, so they all brought their families and gathered at Su Dong's house for a dinner, which turned into a team-building activity in the locker room.
The reason why it turned out like this is because of Pepe and Marcelo.
After joining Bayern, Su Dong's commercial value further increased and he signed several major sponsorship contracts, including a TV company from East Asia. Not long ago, they sponsored Su Dong with a 100-inch flat-screen TV.
For this TV, Su Dong simply spent some money to upgrade the audio and video system in the living room.
Pepe and Marcelo would come to visit Su Dong every now and then, and even eat with him often. They were full of praise for the big TV and audio-visual system in Su Dong's living room. When they heard the discussion about the Champions League group stage draw in the locker room, they immediately nagging about going to Su Dong's house for a meal and watching the draw ceremony.
Needless to say, Ribery is a person of eccentric personality, so how could he be left out of such a good thing?
The town of Grunwald is not big, but it has good public security and is a well-known wealthy area. It is also close to Sebener Strasse, so it has become the area where Bayern players are most keen to live.
Many people in the locker room found that they had not visited Su Dong since he moved in. They only knew from media reports that Su Dong’s villa was designed by a famous German designer and was said to have won several design awards. This made them very interested and they wanted to visit it.
After some discussion, Kahn and Lucio both suggested that since there had been no team building activity in the new season, they might as well take this opportunity to have one.
Of course everyone has no problem with this.
Su Dong just asked timidly, can I protest? The answer is yes, but the protest was ruthlessly rejected!
So there came the day on the 30th. After the team training, everyone went home and then came to Su Dong's house with their families. Su Dong had also invited a famous chef from Munich through the club to cook for the players and their families. He also invited a band, a circus and magicians to entertain the guests, especially the children.
In the end, even Rummenigge and Heynckes, who lived nearby, came.
Fortunately, Su Dong’s house was big enough and there was no problem accommodating so many guests.
As the hostess, Wang Chuqing was naturally responsible for entertaining the players' wives and children, while Su Dong and others had a simpler job. They all sat in the large living room, drinking freshly squeezed juice and eating delicious food. The atmosphere was wonderful.
Because there were so many people, some sat on the sofa, some sat on the carpet, some sat on the coffee table, and some simply stood, creating a very interesting scene in the huge living room.
Rummenigge and Heynckes were standing at the entrance, watching the scene in front of them and found it very interesting.
"I have taken a picture of this scene and will send it to the official website. I will post it online to show the fans that we are still very united in the locker room," Rummenigge said with relief.
Heynckes also nodded with great satisfaction.
Bayern's dressing room is indeed very harmonious and united, mainly because everyone has a common desire and goal in mind at this stage, that is, victory and success!
Needless to say, Su Dong has won the double Footballer of the Year award for two consecutive years, but he is still hungry for honor and victory. This is quite difficult, and it is also what Heynckes appreciates and even admires the most.
Although Ribery became famous in the World Cup, no top teams had any substantial contact with him before he joined Bayern, which somewhat looked down on him. So the French scar-faced man is now holding back his energy and wants to prove his strength to let the whole world see how strong he is.
There is also Robben. He did not have a good time in Chelsea in the later period. Mourinho did not like him at all. Even in November last year, when Chelsea publicly contacted Malouda, Robben said that if Chelsea signed Malouda, he would leave the team.
This was a very obvious threat, but did Chelsea care? Didn't the Blues still sign Malouda and then negotiate a contract extension with Robben?
This is absolutely a great humiliation for Robben, because it means that his status in Chelsea has plummeted, and he is not even valued by the coaching staff and management.
So, when the Dutchman transferred to Bayern, he said that he wanted to prove himself again here.
Head coach Heynckes said he wanted to prove himself, Su Dong also said he wanted to prove himself again, Ribery and Robben were the same, and other Bayern players also wanted to prove themselves again after experiencing the low point last season. In addition, Marcelo, Modric and Mascherano were also thinking about proving their strength. Su Dong was right, Bayern was an Avengers team! At this time, the players' hearts were the most united, and it was the easiest to achieve results.
"We have great potential this season!" Heynckes laughed.
Last season, he won the Bundesliga championship after more than a decade, and now is a time when he is full of confidence.
“No matter who we draw, we are confident that we can beat our opponents!”
…
The drawing and awarding of prizes are carried out alternately.
Neither Su Dong nor the Bayern players cared about the award because it had nothing to do with them.
As for the draw, there was no suspense about the eight seeded teams, as they were divided into eight groups.
There is no doubt that Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea are the strongest teams in European football today.
Chelsea only successfully entered the first seeded team this year, which shows that Abramovich's investment over the years has indeed paid off, because the Champions League tiers take into account the European competition points of the past five seasons, and Abramovich has only been in charge of Chelsea for four years.
However, the appearance of a behemoth like Bayern in the second tier is undoubtedly a huge pressure for all seeded teams. Therefore, at the draw site, when it came time to draw the second tier team, the atmosphere obviously became tense.
The atmosphere in the living room was equally tense, and everyone was discussing who would be considered not so bad? "Real Madrid or Arsenal." Su Dong smiled and gave his answer.
Others had different opinions, some agreed and some disagreed.
Su Dong explained that Real Madrid looks strong, but in fact they are not that good, and they have not been able to advance from the round of 16 in the past few years. "Luck may be one aspect, but the lack of strength is certain."
"In the knockout stages of the Champions League, luck is useless without strength. That's why teams like Valencia, Porto, Monaco and Deportivo La Coruna rose to prominence in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. There's a reason for that."
"What about Arsenal? This team is not weak," Modric asked.
Before joining Bayern, he almost went to Arsenal, and Wenger admired him very much at the time.
"Arsenal is a bit content with their current status. In order to build a new stadium, Wenger has also tightened his belt and sold Vieira and Henry one after another. The Gunners now have too many young players. Wenger's goal should be to finish in the top four of the Premier League and qualify for the Champions League group stage."
Bayern Munich has also invested heavily in building a new stadium, the Allianz Arena, but it has also spent a large sum of money on the transfer market. Arsenal, on the other hand, is unwilling to do so. This is the difference in business philosophy between the two.
Of course, there are practical considerations as well.
For example, Bayern is confident that after investing huge amounts of money, it can achieve immediate results in the Bundesliga, while Arsenal feels that even if they invest huge amounts of money, it will be difficult to make a difference in the Premier League. As for the Champions League, it depends even more on luck.
Everyone thought it made sense, but some people reserved their opinions.
When it comes to football, everyone has their own taste and understanding. This is the most interesting part of football.
…
Bayern's luck is indeed quite good.
Because in the subsequent draw, Bayern was drawn into the same group as Real Madrid.
This can only be said to be a relatively better match among the eight seeded teams.
However, this brings up another problem, which is that Bayern will have to go to the Bernabeu for their first game.
This will be a very difficult test, because for Bayern, now is the time when they are full of confidence. If they don't play well away from home, it is likely to hit the morale of the team, which will cause a chain reaction.
However, in the draw for the third tier of teams, their luck was not so good. After avoiding two teams from the same country, Bayern's group did not draw the weakest Steaua Bucharest, the relatively weaker Celtic, or Marseille which had already lost Ribery, but instead drew the strongest Lazio.
This is where it gets tricky.
Real Madrid, Bayern and Lazio are in the same group and could capsize at any time.
The last draw was for Olympiacos from Greece.
When the drawing of lots was over, everyone in the living room was talking about it.
This time’s draw luck cannot be said to be very bad, but it is not very good either. The main reason is that we drew Lazio in the third tier, which is quite unlucky.
As a second-tier team, Bayern really has no choice. They will definitely face strong teams in the first tier.
Now, I have given you the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. What is even more terrible is, who is Cao Cao? Who is Sun and Liu?
And judging from the schedule, Bayern is indeed relatively disadvantaged, because the first game will be played away at the Bernabeu, which is a huge challenge, especially considering that Bayern has many international players. They have to go to the Bernabeu just after finishing two weeks of national competitions, which is very difficult.
What’s even worse is that before facing the Bernabeu, Bayern’s opponent in the fifth round of the league was Schalke 04, one of the favorites to win the championship.
In the fourth round of the league, which is this weekend, Bayern will travel north to Hamburg to challenge the King of Peking.
It can be said that such a schedule is a huge test even for a team as strong as Bayern.
If you are not careful, you might be brought down.
Heynckes and Rummenigge are also well aware of this, so after the draw results came out, they both reminded the players to stay focused, especially in the next two weeks of national team matches, and must not get injured.
But the immediate problem is still burgers.
(End of this chapter)
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