Bab 27: Chapter 229 The Champions League knockout draw, a fateful showdown!
"Half-season championship is in hand, who can stop Manchester City?" "
"The upstarts of the Premier League are undefeated in 16 games, once again breaking the best start in the Premier League!" "
"Hat-trick defeats the Gunners, Manchester City No. 10 beats Theo Walcott!" "
"Wenger intends to strengthen the striker, Suarez may join the Arsenal! "
After the end of this round of the league, all major British media started to praise Manchester City.
Manchester City achieved 14 wins and 2 draws in the first 16 rounds of the league, once again breaking their previous record for the best start to the Premier League.
And after defeating Arsenal, they have locked in the half-time championship three rounds in advance.
Although there is still a long time before the end of the season, there is no doubt that Manchester City has taken an advantage in the championship battle.
As long as they don't lose their grip, judging from the huge advantage they have, they have a great chance of winning the championship.
Blue Moon is very likely to win its second Premier League trophy!
However, compared to the praise from the outside world, the Manchester City people themselves appear to be very humble.
"Our team still has some shortcomings, and we need to continue to strengthen them during the winter break!"
When facing reporters, club president Fahim expressed the team's determination to continue recruiting.
Head coach Pellegrini also has this idea:
"Yes, our lineup is not deep enough to cope with multi-line operations. We still need to continue to strengthen."
In the summer, Manchester City spent a lot of money in the transfer market and bought a large number of players.
Some of these have proven to be very good deals.
Like Fernandinho and Navas, they quickly established themselves in the starting lineup after entering the team and became the absolute main force of Manchester City.
However, some of the signings in the frontcourt are not so cost-effective. Fortunately, Negredo is qualified as Aguero's substitute and can sometimes start a dozen games.
The same cannot be said for Jovetic. He has had almost no chance to play since coming to Manchester City. The 26 million euros in signings now seem to be a waste.
What Pellegrini needs now is not a striker, he wants an organizer.
David Silva can play as an attacking midfielder, but the threat will be greater if he is placed on the wing, which is a position he is more familiar with.
Therefore, Manchester City needs a serious organizational core to liberate Lin Quan.
This is also the opinion of the big boss Mansour. Even if Pellegrini does not make a move during the winter break, the club will make a move to buy someone.
Manchester City's outstanding performance on all fronts this season makes Mansour very happy. He has never been a stingy person.
As long as he can make the team stronger and go further on all fronts, he will not hesitate to spend more money.
Therefore, before the winter break has arrived, many stars have already been rumored to have affairs with Manchester City.
According to sources, Manchester City is eyeing the main midfielders of Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona and other teams.
When the transfer window opens, they will hand these teams an offer they can't refuse.
The authenticity of this news is still unknown, but the wealthy families who have been rumored to have scandals seem a little nervous.
When an average team comes to poach someone, they might laugh it off.
But if Manchester City comes to poach people, it will be different!
The reason is simple, Manchester City is too rich.
In the past, Manchester City was just a wealthy upstart, but this year, they are making rapid progress in both the league and the Champions League.
After Lin Quan joined Manchester City, everyone could see that Manchester City was already qualified to challenge for the Champions League trophy.
This means that other players who join Manchester City can not only receive extremely high salaries, but also continue to pursue honors.
This undoubtedly dispelled the concerns of many people and greatly lowered the threshold for them to join Manchester City.
At this time, once Manchester City makes an offer that is difficult for clubs and players to refuse, these giants are worried that they will not be able to hold on.
There is no way, Manchester City has given too much!
Therefore, after the scandal between their own players and Manchester City, they were full of a sense of crisis and began to look for suitable alternatives in the transfer market in advance.
In this case, when Manchester City really wave the check to poach people, they will not be without backup options.
…
After the league match with Arsenal, club president Fahim and head coach Pellegrini rushed to the UEFA headquarters non-stop to participate in the draw ceremony for the 1/8 finals of the 2013-2014 Champions League.
This is the first time that Manchester City has reached the knockout stage. They are very nervous about this, for fear that they will get a bad draw.
However, the second place team in this year's group is not very strong. Serie A champion Juventus, who might have become a spoiler, was unexpectedly eliminated by the Turkish Super League team in the group stage and missed the knockout rounds.
Among the remaining second-placed teams in the group, except for Arsenal in the Premier League and AC Milan in Serie A, the remaining teams are very weak.
Therefore, as long as Manchester City is not too unlucky, they can basically get a good draw.
But for Bayern, which finished second in the group, this season's Champions League will be difficult.
The first places in several other groups are either top clubs in major leagues or powerful teams.
No matter who they meet, it will be a fierce battle.
Of course, the same goes for other teams.
No one wants to meet the defending champion of last season in the first stage of the knockout round!
This resulted in the expressions on the faces of the head coaches of the major clubs who came to participate in the draw ceremony to be very nervous.
They all cursed Bayern in their hearts. Damn it, the defending champions don't play well, which makes us worried.
At seven o'clock in the evening on December 16, the lottery ceremony officially began.
UEFA Secretary General Infantino, Competition Director Marchetti and this season's UEFA Champions League Ambassador Figo will work together to draw eight teams from the two pools representing the first and second teams in the group.
In the group stage, the eight teams that ranked first in the group were: Manchester United, Real Madrid, Paris, Manchester City, Chelsea, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.
These eight teams will enjoy the advantage of visiting first and then home, which is obviously a reward for their first record in the group.
The runners-up in the group are: Bayer Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Bayern, Werder Bremen, Arsenal, Zenit St. Petersburg and AC Milan.
As the second best team in the group, they need to play home games first and then away games. The schedule is not friendly to them. If they do not play well at home, they will even directly lose hope of advancing.
Under the spotlight, Figo was the first to draw out Manchester City.
Seeing that his team was drawn out, Fahim sat up straight, while Pellegrini couldn't help but cross his hands.
Obviously, both of them were a little nervous.
"Manchester City has been making great progress this season, both in the league and the Champions League. They have not lost so far. Who will be their opponent?"
The host said with a smile, but the second place in each group could not laugh at this time. Obviously, no one wanted to draw Manchester City.
Mardecay pulled out a team from the second place pool in the group, unfolded it and found that it was the team logo of Arsenal.
According to UEFA regulations, in the Champions League 1/8 finals, teams in the same league and teams in the same group will automatically avoid.
Therefore, the draw this time did not count. After the redraw, a team with the white letter W logo on a green background was drawn.
If Lin Quan were here, he would be able to recognize which team this is at a glance - Werder Bremen!
Seeing this draw, Fahim and Pellegrini were stunned for a moment, and then they both breathed a sigh of relief.
Werder Bremen is not the second weakest group, but they are not strong either. In addition, Germany is not far from the UK, so it will not be too hard for them to play away games.
So for Manchester City, this is a top pick!
The broadcast camera showed Werder Bremen's head coach Schaff. Compared to Manchester City's relaxation and excitement, coach Schaff's expression was obviously much more serious.
Lin's team?
He couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart: Is this considered a bad taste of UEFA?
This is a good draw for Manchester City, but for Werder Bremen, this draw is basically a death sentence for them.
"Holy crap, UEFA knows how to play, and it actually allowed Manchester City to meet Werder Bremen!"
"If this wasn't the script, I would eat the computer alive!"
"This draw is very friendly to Manchester City. It basically declares entry into the quarterfinals!"
"Yes, Bremen's strength has dropped a lot this season, and it is difficult for them to pose a threat to Manchester City!"
"With Werder Bremen's strength, it will be difficult to play against anyone. Relatively speaking, it may be better to meet Manchester City. At least Lin Huang will not kill them!"
"I am a Werder Bremen fan and welcome Lin Quan home!"
"Welcome home!"
Bremen fans have great affection for Lin Quan. Werder Bremen's decline has been going on for a long time.
If he and De Bruyne hadn't led Bremen all the way to second place in the league last season, Werder Bremen would have had no chance of entering the Champions League.
This season, after losing Lin Quan and De Bruyne, Werder Bremen was suddenly knocked back to its original shape. Their points in the league ranked fifth from the bottom in the Bundesliga, only one step away from the relegation zone.
Under this situation, Werder Bremen simply cannot take care of the Champions League, and they have to fight for the team's relegation.
It is for this reason that fans of the Parrot Legion miss their former twin stars even more.
If these two people were still there, the team's record would never have dropped to this point.
…
The second one to be drawn out is Barcelona, and their opponent is Arsenal.
Seeing this draw, Wenger's expression suddenly changed.
He seriously suspected that this was UEFA's shady act. Otherwise, why would Arsenal always face Barcelona in the knockout rounds?
The third one to be drawn is Atletico Madrid, and their opponent is AC Milan.
This matchup is full of suspense. AC Milan is the strongest among the remaining six second-placed teams, while Atletico Madrid is a relatively weak team among the first-placed teams in several groups.
When two teams meet, the outcome of the game may be difficult to predict. Both sides should have almost the same hope of advancing.
Subsequently, the opponents of Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Dortmund were also announced.
Paris Saint-Germain were drawn against Leverkusen, and they have great hopes of advancing due to their strength.
Real Madrid drew Olympiacos. There is almost no suspense in this group. It is almost impossible for the Greek team to pose a threat to Real Madrid.
Manchester United drew Galatasaray. This draw is good or bad for Manchester United.
The opponent's strength is not strong, but it will be a big challenge for Manchester United's players to travel to the hell home court of the Turkish Super League.
Dortmund was drawn against Zenit St. Petersburg. Their opponents were not strong, and they qualified with the lowest score in the history of the Champions League. Therefore, it is generally believed that Dortmund will advance.
There are only the last two teams left in the lottery pool. Even if they don't draw, everyone knows the result of this last showdown.
Figo still went through the process and drew out the last two teams.
The result of the last group matchup is Chelsea VS Bayern Munich!
After the result came out, the director showed two sets of cameras, respectively focusing on Bayern's head coach Guardiola and Chelsea's head coach Mourinho.
These two are the most popular top coaches in today's football. They have staged strong duels in the Champions League and La Liga for many years.
I thought that after they left La Liga one after another, the number of games between the two would decrease.
But what is unexpected is that the fate between the two is so deep. Even though they came to two different leagues, they still met in the first stage of the knockout round.
This result is not good news for both sides. Mourinho's Chelsea and Guardiola's Bayern were the Champions League champions last season and the season before last respectively.
These two teams are also very strong in themselves and were one of the highly anticipated favorites to win the championship before the group stage.
However, the two teams met early, which meant that one team was bound to miss the quarterfinals.
Mourinho and Guardiola both looked unhappy after seeing this result.
Mourinho's face was livid, and his eyes were fixed on UEFA's Secretary General Infantino.
The madman has long suspected that the Champions League draw was a pre-arranged script, and now he is even more convinced.
He could guess that this match was deliberately arranged by UEFA for the sake of traffic and gimmicks.
In the past quarter-finals, due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, they were not exciting enough and not much to watch.
But Bayern and Chelsea are different. Not only are the two teams very close in strength, but they also have various grievances and grudges.
Bayern takes revenge on Chelsea for the defeat in the final two years ago, plus the fateful showdown between Mourinho and Guardiola...
What a gimmick and spectacle!
Guardiola's expression was also serious. He had confidence in Bayern, but he did not expect to encounter such a powerful team in the first stage of the knockout rounds.
Chelsea's defense is very tough, but Bayern has to play at home first, so the schedule is very disadvantageous for them.
Based on his understanding of Mourinho, the opponent will definitely put on a defensive posture at the Allianz Arena and play the ultimate defensive counterattack.
Once Bayern fails to defeat Chelsea at its own home court, Bayern's hope of winning may be very slim when it comes to the opponent's home court.
The reporters and audience at the scene were obviously well aware of the grievances between the two, so after the result came out, a heated discussion broke out at the scene.
Other teams, especially the wealthy ones, all took schadenfreude and watched the fight between the two giants.
For those teams that aim to win the championship, such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, this result is obviously what they want to see.
Because they didn't need to take action, one of these two strong teams was eliminated.
And even if they are the winning side, they will definitely be exhausted after experiencing such a tragic fight.
Encountering them in the quarter-finals will greatly enhance the hopes of other giants to win.
According to the schedule officially announced by UEFA, Manchester City will visit Weser Stadium on February 19, 2014 to face Werder Bremen.
The second leg match between the two teams will be held at the Etihad Stadium on March 13.
Judging from the strength of the two teams, Manchester City may end the suspense of the game in the first round.
However, some fans believe that Lin Quan is likely to be lenient when he returns to the Weser Stadium for the first time after leaving Werder Bremen.
Lin Quan is the core of Manchester City's offense. If he shows mercy, Werder Bremen may not lose at home.
Manchester City 4:0 Real Madrid, can you believe it?
In the final against Inter Milan, it feels like Manchester City can already open the champagne in advance!
The premise is that Guardiola doesn't make trouble~~
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