Chapter 906: The Road to Mythology
At the end of August every year, Monaco becomes the focus of attention of football fans all over the world.
The annual UEFA Champions League group stage draw and UEFA awards ceremony will be held at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco.
Su Dong received an invitation from UEFA a long time ago, but later, fearing that he would be unwilling to participate, they contacted Manchester City management, Messi, Xavi and others, and even Platini called personally to invite him to attend the event.
Last season's Champions League lost its luster without Su Dong. Now that Su Dong has made a comeback, he is naturally the focus of the Champions League's publicity and the focus of attention of media and fans around the world.
This is the first time in Manchester City's history that they have participated in the Champions League.
A newly promoted team winning the championship has always been a myth that the world of football talks about with great relish.
The most praised team is Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga, mainly because it is the closest. In the late 1990s, under the leadership of head coach Rehhagel, Kaiserslautern created the myth of a newly promoted team winning the championship.
There has been no such precedent in the Premier League so far, but it had appeared in English Football League One before the birth of the Premier League, and it appeared twice.
In 1961, Ipswich, led by legendary coach Alaf Ramsey, was promoted to the English Football League One, and in 1962 miraculously won the English Football League One championship, creating the first time in the history of England's top league that a newly promoted team won the championship.
Fifteen years later, Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough repeated this myth, and this time Clough did it more thoroughly. After winning the English League One championship, he represented English League One in the Champions League and won the Champions League championship historically in his first participation in the Champions League.
That’s it?
No, Clough's team successfully defended the Champions League in the second season after winning it! Although Nottingham Forest has been sinking in the lower leagues and lost the promotion rights in the Premier League play-offs this summer, the glory of this team more than 30 years ago is still exciting to think about.
In the history of the Champions League, Nottingham Forest is not the first team to win the championship in its first participation.
In the 1950s, when the Champions League was first established, there were only twelve teams. Real Madrid, which won the first Champions League, became the first team in history to win the Champions League for the first time.
In 1964, Inter Milan participated in the Champions League for the first time. After defeating Real Madrid in the final, they became the second team to win the championship in its first participation in the Champions League.
Just three years later, Celtic from the Scottish Premier League made a stunning debut and successfully became the third team.
So, strictly speaking, Clough's Nottingham Forest is the fourth team in the history of the Champions League to win the Champions League in its first participation.
In 1982, Aston Villa participated in the Champions League for the first time after winning the English League One title, and defeated Bayern Munich in the final to win the Champions League and become the fifth legendary team.
In the 55-year history of the Champions League, a total of five legendary teams have won the championship in their first participation.
But the most recent one was in 1982, which is 29 years ago.
Then why was it that in the first 26 years, there were a total of five teams that won the championship in their first participation, but there was no such team in the next 29 years?
L'Equipe said in its analysis that this is because the threshold for winning the Champions League has become increasingly higher.
The previous Champions League was a cup competition with few participating teams. Only the winning teams in the league were allowed to participate. There were fewer games, the possibility of upsets would be higher, and the requirements for the teams were relatively lower.
This is the same as the English FA Cup. The single-elimination format makes the FA Cup known as a hotbed of upsets.
However, with the reform of the Champions League, especially in recent years, the Champions League has continued to expand. In addition to the championship team, teams ranked high in the league can also participate in the competition. It seems that there are more participating teams and many teams can play in the Champions League. But in fact, it is precisely because there are more participating teams and more games that all teams want to win. They not only need stronger strength, but also have excellent form throughout the season.
The group stage is more of a test of the team's overall strength. Only the top two teams with outstanding strength and better condition can advance to the knockout stage. The subsequent knockout stages are basically strong dialogues. Without sufficiently good strength and condition, it is difficult to advance layer by layer.
Moreover, since the Bosman Act, the flow of players has become increasingly convenient, and high-level players have begun to gather in top teams, making the threshold for winning the Champions League higher and higher.
There are many mid- and lower-level teams in various national leagues. After a sudden outbreak, they play in amazing form, achieve good rankings in the league, and even win the championship. However, in the subsequent summer transfers, they hardly have enough financial resources to retain their star players, and staff turnover becomes very serious.
Therefore, in the upcoming Champions League, it will be difficult to have the strength to challenge for the championship.
That's why in the first 26 years, there were five teams that won the championship on their debut, but in the next 29 years, there was not even one.
So does Manchester City have a chance to become the sixth?
After the first three rounds of the Premier League, everyone was surprised to find that Manchester City's strength had not weakened compared to last season, but had become stronger, and Guardiola's tactics had become more mature and stable.
Such a team has the opportunity to compete for this historic honor.
However, as L'Equipe said, if Manchester City wants to win the Champions League in its first appearance, it is as difficult as winning the lottery.
Star player Sudon and technical director Begiristain were blocked by media reporters at the entrance of the Grimaldi Conference Center. When asked about Manchester City's views on the draw and the expectations of the outside world, Sudon said that this was too far away.
"I have played in many Champions League games, so I know that in a competition like the Champions League, it is not normal to think too far ahead. All of us, from the management to the coaching staff to the players, should keep our feet on the ground and play the next game well."
Su Dong also mentioned the current group situation of the Champions League.
Manchester City is participating in the Champions League for the first time. Although winning the Europa League last season helped with points, Manchester City is still ranked in the third tier. What does this mean? The first tier is the eight strongest seeded teams, and the second tier is also strong teams like AC Milan, Lyon, Valencia and Villarreal. Even in the third tier, there are teams such as Manchester City, Lille, Leverkusen, Ajax and so on.
Not to mention the fourth tier, Dortmund and Naples are the standard configuration of the group of death.
In other words, leaving aside the third pot, it is highly likely that Manchester City will be drawn into the group of death.
Or it should be said that whoever is unlucky enough to draw Manchester City will be unlucky enough to fall into the group of death.
This is true for the opponents, but isn't it also true for Manchester City itself?
Who wants to face the group of death from the very beginning?
Six games, how much consumption will it have?
Therefore, to some extent, European competition points and the Champions League group draw are actually important factors that prevent non-strong teams from going further in the Champions League.
Of course, if Manchester City's luck is extremely good, and they draw the weakest team Porto in the first tier, Marseille or Benfica in the second tier, and avoid Dortmund and Naples in the fourth tier, then Manchester City's luck will indeed be extremely good.
But we really can't expect too much of this kind of good luck.
…………
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As soon as Su Dong and Begiristain walked into the Grimaldi Forum, they immediately became the focus of attention.
The reason is simple. Manchester City has now been labeled as the group of death, and whoever meets them will be unlucky.
More importantly is the Soviet Union.
No one wants to meet Su Dong in the Champions League group stage, this is terrible!
Su Dong and Begiristain stood at the entrance for a while, looked around, and the first person they saw was Messi walking towards them.
"Hey, Sue!"
"Leo."
The two embraced warmly, and then Iniesta came over.
"Long time no see, Sue!"
Many Barcelona players participated in the draw and award ceremony tonight, including Xavi, Puyol and others.
What really offended Su Dong was that Puyol actually appeared in such a serious occasion wearing very casual clothes. This was too out of place in the Grimaldi Conference Center where everyone was in suits and ties.
"Yellow T-shirt, gray plaid shorts, perfect!" Su Dong nodded and gave a thumbs up.
Everyone around burst into laughter.
Puyol's outfit has indeed attracted a lot of attention to him.
"Does it look good?" the fellow asked shamelessly, opening his arms.
"Very elegant, calm, and composed, coupled with your... um... lion-like hair, I simply... um..."
At the end, Su Dong couldn't make up any more stories. He just shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "Nimi, did you forget to bring your suit when you went out? Go back and change!"
Everyone burst into laughter again.
In fact, Puyol was really wronged.
When the entire Barcelona team came to Monaco, they were wearing the same clothes he is wearing now, with the Barcelona team logo on the chest.
Normally, if you want to attend such a formal occasion, you should wear formal clothes, as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and others do. But Puyol didn't do that. He just wore this outfit.
UEFA can't say that you are not allowed to enter because you are dressed like this, right? "You know, there is no team logo on our suits." Puyol pulled up the team logo on his chest and said seriously.
Xavi shook his head helplessly. "He is injured and can't play in the Super Cup, but he wants to help the team win. So, he wore this suit to attend the party, saying that he wants to contribute to tomorrow's game."
Su Dong was completely confused and only felt a crow flying over his head.
Damn, what does dressing like this to attend the party have to do with tomorrow's game?
The Spanish players’ train of thought is indeed quite peculiar!
"Then you really wore it in vain!" Su Dong said with a smile.
Tomorrow's Super Cup will be between the Champions League champion Barcelona and the Europa League champion Manchester City, right? Su Dong immediately decided to stay away from Puyol.
He who keeps company with the wise becomes wiser, and he who keeps company with the foolish becomes stupider.
It’s better to keep your distance.
(End of this chapter)
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