Chapter 442 Awards and Lottery
Before the draw ceremony, the Champions League rankings for the 32 teams had already been announced.
The UEFA Champions League teams are divided into four tiers based on their European points in the past five seasons, including the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The 32 teams are divided into four tiers of eight teams from high to low based on their European points. Last season, although Real Madrid was eliminated right after qualifying from the group stage, Real Madrid had a good record in previous European competitions, so UEFA still put Real Madrid in the first tier this time.
In contrast, Chelsea achieved the Grand Slam last season, winning all the championships, including the Champions League. This directly enabled the Blues to leapfrog to a higher level and be classified among the first-tier teams.
Among the other teams participating in the Champions League, last season's La Liga champions Barcelona, the Red Devils Manchester United, the always powerful AC Milan, the Arsenal, the Nerazzurri Inter Milan and the Bundesliga overlord Bayern Munich were classified as first-tier teams.
The Dutch Eredivisie leader Ajax, the 'Old Lady' Juventus, Panathinaikos, Villarreal, PSV Eindhoven, Porto and French Ligue 1 champions Lyon are all placed in the second tier.
Others include Brugge, Rapid Vienna, Prague, Badathun, Middlesbrough, Werder Bremen, Udinese, Lille, Benfica, Schalke 04, Fenerbahce, Erlinghaco, Rosenborg, Anderlech, Tebetis, Rangers, Bratislava. These teams from various leagues are eligible to participate in the Champions League and all belong to the third and fourth tiers.
"Alan, which team do you think we will be in a group with?" At this time, Florentino narrowed his eyes, looked at the senior executives of various clubs around him, and asked casually.
Wang Li looked up at the team ranking table on the big screen at one side of the conference room, thought for a moment, and said, "It should be a Serie A or Premier League team."
He was just making a random guess. Among the second tier teams in the match table, there were two Serie A teams and one Premier League team, so the probability of this being true was certainly higher.
"I hope so." After hearing this, Florentino chuckled and said.
In fact, Wang Li didn’t care much about the grouping situation. He was just waiting to go on stage to receive the award.
No matter how the group is divided, it is impossible for him to participate in the group stage of the Champions League. He is just looking at the result and hopes that Real Madrid can be divided into a weak group and qualify smoothly. Then when he returns, he can still participate in the knockout stage of the Champions League. That's all.
This is not to say that he is too selfish. In fact, he has always lived in England and has just come to Real Madrid. The first reason for coming here is the salary, and the second is the honor.
As for the love for Real Madrid?
He really didn't have much of that thing, and there was no reason for him to own it.
But when the honor of Real Madrid is linked to himself, he has this "love". Probably every professional player has this idea.
At this time, the beautiful female host on the scene began to announce the list of winners. The first one announced was the best coach of last season. This honor naturally belonged to Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho was the best coach of the season before last, and this is his second consecutive year of winning the honor.
The Portuguese smiled brightly when he went on stage to receive the award. He had reason to smile because he had won this honor consecutively. The honor of the best coach is indeed the best affirmation of a professional coach.
At this time, the female host introduced: "Chelsea was the most brilliant last season. They won all the honors that an English team can get. They are the champions of the European Champions League. Congratulations to Mr. Mourinho for winning the honor of the best coach again. What will Chelsea do this year? This makes us look forward to it."
Hearing these compliments, Wang Li felt a little satisfied. After all, he was the most important contributor to Chelsea's various championships last season. Praising Chelsea last season was the same as praising him.
After Mourinho finished posing, the host began to announce the winners of the awards one by one.
"The winner of the best striker last season is Real Madrid's." The host paused for a moment before shouting at the top of his lungs: "Strike forward Alan Wang."
Following this shout, everyone in the audience applauded spontaneously.
What was different from when Mourinho went on stage to receive the award just now was that the applause this time was much louder.
Mourinho won the best coach award, and everyone thought he was just lucky. However, Wang Li was the most important contributor to Chelsea winning so many honors. Everyone in the audience was convinced that Wang Li won the award.
Florentino patted Wang Li on the shoulder and motioned for him to go on stage to receive the award.
Under everyone's gaze, Wang Li walked steadily to the stage, took an exquisite trophy from an unknown award presenter, and gave the award presenter a polite hug.
Like Mourinho, after receiving the award, Wang Li also posed on the stage for everyone to admire and for reporters to take pictures. He stood there with his heart full of joy. To be honest, this was his first time to participate in such a high-end award ceremony. Compared with the award ceremony when the team won the championship, this form of award ceremony was of higher standards and seemed to be a bit higher in grade.
Although there were not many people in the audience and only a few dozen reporters, it was undeniable that each of these people had a great influence in world football. Wang Li was a little excited to see so many people watching him receive the award.
However, there was a calm temperament on his face, which made everyone nod secretly in their hearts.
Come to think of it, this black-haired boy is only 18 and a half years old. It is not easy for him to win the "Best Forward" award at this age and still maintain such a calm temperament.
The host began to introduce Wang Li's experience in detail: "Alan Wang is only 18 years and seven months old. In last season's Champions League, he scored 31 goals for Chelsea and directly helped Chelsea win the Champions League. In the Premier League, he also scored 49 goals for the team. This goal data is absolutely unprecedented." "With his goal data, other forwards really have no competitiveness. I think no one will object to Alan winning this award. Below, please see his goal collection last season. However, he scored too many goals, so we only cut out a few of the most exciting ones."
As soon as he finished speaking, the big screen at the scene began to play Wang Li's goal video. At this moment, he was undoubtedly the most watched person in the stadium.
The video is not long, only two minutes, but being able to obtain such a privilege before the UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony also demonstrates UEFA's attention to Wang Li.
After Wang Li received the award, the host began to announce other awards.
At this time, Lampard was a little excited because the next award was the best midfielder. Although he was already a famous star in England, he had never won such a meaningful award.
The host announced the winner: "The best midfielder last season was Steven Gerrard of Liverpool."
Hearing this, Wang Li also gave Lampard a comforting look.
However, no one had much objection to Gerrard receiving this honor, even Lampard, who felt a little disappointed.
Last season, Liverpool reached the Champions League final almost entirely relying on Gerrard alone. Although they lost to Chelsea by a large margin in the final, Gerrard's performance is well known. He is better than Lampard both in the team and in performance.
Unfortunately, Gerrard still chose to stay in Liverpool in the summer transfer. Since Liverpool only finished fifth in the league last season, the winner of the best midfielder did not even qualify for the Champions League this season.
On the stage, Gerrard, an English man, even shed tears the moment he received the trophy. Everyone could feel the bitterness in his tears.
As a Liverpool player, he is a complete Red, a loyal Red. When Liverpool's performance was not good, he still chose not to leave. Such a player can really be described as great.
Next, the host announced the winners of the best defender and best goalkeeper, they were Chelsea captain John Terry and AC Milan goalkeeper Dida.
These two awards are the ones that have the most objections from the public.
The best defender John Terry is okay. Although his skills are not the best among the defenders, as the captain of the championship team, his fighting spirit on the field is worthy of recognition. In last season's European Champions Cup, Terry used his body to block the ball many times, saving Chelsea's defense from danger. This performance is definitely worthy of recognition.
However, there are many objections to the best goalkeeper.
Originally, in everyone's mind, this award should belong to Chelsea goalkeeper Thomas Clarke. In the knockout rounds of the Champions League, Thomas has always been Chelsea's main goalkeeper, and his performance in many games has been obvious to all. His reaction speed and ability are absolutely world-class, and he is also a member of the championship team. It is natural for him to win the honor of best goalkeeper.
However, probably for the sake of balance, UEFA gave this honor to AC Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Dida.
Before AC Milan was eliminated by Chelsea, Dida had not conceded a single goal, which was a decent performance.
The reason why I only say it's possible is because most people think that the reason AC Milan didn't concede goals is more because of the good performance of their defense line rather than how outstanding Dida is. After all, Dida's age is there. He is over 32 years old, and both his condition and ability are declining.
"It's okay, there will be another chance next time." At this time, Wang Li walked to Thomas and comforted him.
Thomas looked up and smiled, and made a Schwarzenegger gesture, saying: "Haha, I'm fine. I'm already very happy to be able to participate in this draw ceremony. And I'm only 20 years old this year. I believe I will definitely get this honor next season. However, if Real Madrid meets Chelsea, you will lose the title of best striker."
After hearing this, Wang Li's face darkened. He really felt that it was a mistake for him to come and comfort her.
"Just wait, I will kick you into a funnel." After saying this harsh words, Wang Li returned to Florentino.
In fact, he didn't have time to chat with Thomas because he was about to win the Kung Fu Player of the Year award.
"Last season's best player was Alan Wang"
Just like what most people thought, there was no doubt about the result. Wang Li directly won the best player award with his astonishing number of goals.
In fact, under normal circumstances, few pure shooters can win this award. The best players are usually the core of the team, that is, the commander of the team, such as Ronaldinho, Kaka, and other players of this type.
Although Wang Li is also the offensive core of Chelsea, his performance as a striker is obviously more than that of a core. His role in the team is more of a shooter rather than a midfield commander.
However, his astonishing goal numbers made up for this. Whether it was Kaka or Ronaldinho, although they led the team, AC Milan and Barcelona did not win the championship after all.
Chelsea is the champion, Wang Li is Chelsea's most important contributor, and it is only natural that he won the best player award.
After the award ceremony, everyone began to pay attention to the grouping of the Champions League.
At this time, the staff brought out four transparent boxes and placed them on the table in front of the stage. These four boxes represented four levels of teams.
The invited guests will come on stage one after another, draw numbers representing their teams from a box, and divide the teams into groups.
As the guests came on stage one by one, the top seeded teams were quickly drawn out one by one and arranged into various groups. Real Madrid was in Group F, while its arch-rivals Barcelona were in Group C. Chelsea was placed in Group G right next to Real Madrid.
Afterwards, the drawing of the second-tier teams began. The guests for this drawing were very interesting. The host would arrange some people related to the seeded teams in each group to draw numbers.
When it was Real Madrid's turn to draw the group F team, the host called out Wang Li's name, which meant that Wang Li would draw a second-tier team for Real Madrid's group F.
At this time, five second-tier teams have already been settled, and the only ones left are French Ligue 1 champions Lyon, Premier League newcomers Middlesbrough and Portuguese Ligue 1 side Porto.
"Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough"
When Wang Li came on stage, the club chairman Florentino next to him kept repeating this name. It was obvious that among the three teams, the weakest one belonged to Middlesbrough. Under the leadership of McClaren last season, the team jumped to the fourth place in the Premier League and participated in the play-offs before entering the Champions League. This season, McClaren also left, and their participation in the Champions League was just a formality.
Wang Li ignored Florentino's muttering, walked straight to the front desk, and casually pulled out a number from the second box.
At this time, the host looked at the number above and read out the name of the team very clearly: "Lyon"
“Hey~~~~~~~”
Hearing the name, except for Florentino who sighed, everyone else burst into laughter, gloating over Real Madrid's "luck".
Among the remaining three teams, the French Ligue 1 giants Lyon are undoubtedly the toughest nut to crack. It can be said that it is no exaggeration to say that this team can sometimes burst out with strength equivalent to that of teams like AC Milan and Barcelona.
Among all the second-tier teams, Lyon is definitely the strongest.
Real Madrid’s luck is really not very good, or it should be said that Wang Li’s luck is really not very good.
The drawing continues.
However, Wang Li had nothing to do afterwards, and he was happy to be free, so he walked straight over to Thomas and started chatting with him.
Speaking of which, the two haven't seen each other for a long time. Thomas is undoubtedly Wang Li's best friend, but now one of them is in London and the other is in Madrid. Normally, it is not easy to meet.
Under such circumstances, the group draw was completed quickly.
Finally, the four teams in Group F where Real Madrid is located are Real Madrid, Lyon, Olympiacos and Rosenborg.
Rosenborg Football Club is a team in the Norwegian League. This team is equivalent to Manchester United in the Premier League in Norway. They have won the Norwegian League championship for 11 consecutive years.
Olympiacos Football Club is a club in the Greek A League. Its full name is "Piraeus Olympiacos Fans Club". It is the largest and most popular football club in Greece.
For teams of the level of Real Madrid and Lyon, these two teams are pure weak teams, and it is indeed not easy to pose a threat to them.
Although he was a little depressed about drawing Lyon, Florentino's mood improved a lot after seeing the other two opponents. At least Real Madrid's qualification was guaranteed.
After the group draw, the Real Madrid team returned directly to Madrid that night. Although Wang Li was free, the other two obviously did not have time to waste in this romantic France.
Originally, Wang Li planned to take this opportunity to visit the gambling city of Monaco, but under this circumstance, the plan had to be shelved.
After all, even if he is suspended, he is still a Real Madrid football player first. Regardless of whether he can play in the game, he must participate in the team's training. Even if he tells the head coach: "I can maintain my form without participating in training", I am afraid the head coach will not believe it.
It is obviously unreasonable not to participate in team training when receiving the highest salary in the world.
The groups are as follows:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Club Brugge, Rapid Vienna
Group B: Arsenal, Ajax, Sparta Prague, Thun
Group C: Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Udinese
Group D: Manchester United, Villarreal, Lille, Benfica
Group E: AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Schalke 04, Fenerbahce
Group F: Real Madrid, Lyon, Olympiacos, Rosenborg
Group G: Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Anderlecht, Betis
Group H: Inter Milan, Porto, Rangers, Bratislava
PS: The ban period will soon be over, and the moment for the protagonist to explode is coming again. I look forward to monthly tickets, monthly tickets, and monthly tickets~~~~~~
There will be updates, there will be outbursts, there will be exciting articles, there will be women, there will be everything, and I hope there will also be monthly tickets~~~~ I am in tears.
In addition, thanks to Xiaomi Tuiliu, guanruo, Fengshen ぬbang and First Phoenix for their rewards. Thank you
V!~!