Encircle the Premier League!

This is the attitude that the mainstream media in Europe have shown after the Champions League group stage match. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Obviously, the strength of the Premier League in recent years has made teams in other European leagues quite fearful.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have all performed quite well in the Champions League, and the Premier League teams have reached the Champions League final for several consecutive years, but in addition to Benitez's Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea have all ended up with the title, but reaching the final is a testament to the strength of the Premier League.

Although La Liga has been full of glory in the past few years, with the cold Atletico Madrid, Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, and the superstar galaxy battleship Real Madrid, the three giants are outstanding, but it is still difficult to hide the edge of the Premier League on the field, let alone in the transfer market.

In the past few years, the football market has been sluggish, the Premier League has always been the most purchasing league in Europe, and even rumors that the Premier League's promoted horses are richer than the upper reaches of other leagues, which is not wrong at all.

The four giants have monopolized the top four of the Premier League for a long time and steadily occupied the Champions League qualification, which not only reaped huge profits and made a lot of money, but also greatly boosted their financial income, making them more willing to invest in the transfer market, so that they are proud of the others.

However, some people believe that with the strong entry of Middle Eastern tycoon Mansour into Manchester City this summer, it is bound to break this pattern and make the good days of the Premier League semi-finals lying down and counting money are gone.

But at the moment, the Premier League is well known.

Of the sixteen teams that emerged from the Champions League group stage, the Premier League semi-finals were all qualified, with Manchester United and Liverpool both topping their groups, while Chelsea and Arsenal finished second.

All four teams are tough opponents with headaches.

In addition to the Premier League, the semi-finals of La Liga have all qualified, with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid topping the group, and Real Madrid and Villarreal finishing second in the group.

Among the four teams in Serie A, Roma and Inter Milan are the first to qualify in the group, Juventus is second in the group, and Fiorentina was eliminated and forced to play in the League Cup.

As for the Bundesliga, the situation is the most miserable, only Bayern Munich stands out, Werder Bremen only finished third in the group and was forced to play in the League Cup, as for Schalke 04, they didn't even cross the qualifiers and were eliminated directly.

Instead, it was the Portuguese Super League, with Porto and Sporting Lisbon both qualifying, and Ligue 1's Lyon finishing second in the group.

From the distribution of the list of the top 16 of the Champions League, it is not difficult to see the current strength pattern of European football, and the Bundesliga has even fallen to the same level as teams such as the Portuguese Super League and French Ligue 1, and is gradually being opened up by the other three major leagues.

But precisely because there is only one team in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich, according to the draw rules for the knockout round of 16 of the Champions League, the group stage of the same group of teams and the same country team to avoid the principle, so any of the eight teams in the second place may draw Bayern Munich.

This suddenly put all the teams that qualified second in the group at risk, especially Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Juventus and other giants, and they all talked about Bayern's color change, for fear that they would draw this dead sign.

But what about Bayern Munich, which was lucky enough to avoid the cold?

The answer is similarly grim.

Just like Chelsea, they avoided Manchester United and Liverpool in the same country, and Roma in the same group, and the remaining five opponents are Inter Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Porto and Atletico Madrid.

It is clear that apart from Porto, who are relatively sure, the other four teams are worried.

But who is to blame for this?

After losing 3-1 away to Roma in the fourth round of the group, Rijkaard's side drew 1-1 away at Bordeaux in Ligue 1 in the fifth round, giving Roma the top spot in the group.

It can be said that the top spot in this group was conceded by Chelsea themselves, and there is no one else.

Some British media broke the news that Abramovich was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

But the draw has to go on, doesn't it?

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December 19, noon.

In the trapezoidal conference hall of the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, although the central air conditioning is turned on, it still makes everyone who walks into the conference hall feel the chill, especially the representatives of the top league giants.

From the faces of everyone who walked into the conference hall, you could read the solemnity in their hearts.

The draw for the knockout round of 16 of the Champions League is about their ability to qualify, and it is about the income of more than 10 million euros, who dares to be careless?

After the representatives of the sixteen teams entered the field, they each found their place in the club according to the paper card on the table, and all looked apprehensively at the transparent glass cylinders connected in a row on the table under the trapezoidal seats.

Wait a minute, the matchup of the Champions League knockout round will be decided in the tank.

Peter Kenyon frowned and was preoccupied all the way.

As Chelsea's CEO, he knows better than anyone else what is going on, and failing to secure top spot in the group is a huge loss for Chelsea, who will be in for a tough battle unless they can draw the weakest of the top spots, Porto.

This is clearly something that Chelsea and the whole world do not want to see.

On the contrary, those teams that won the group stage are obviously more relaxed, at least they have a better chance of drawing easier opponents.

The draw was presided over by UEFA Secretary General and Italian Gianni Infantino.

Like Peter Kenyon, he was a bald gentleman.

Those who are familiar with UEFA know that Gianni Infantino is Platini's descendant, and two years ago, Platini defeated Johansson, and after becoming UEFA president, he immediately forced Infantino's descendant, the then secretary-general of the Swede Olsen, to retire and appoint Infantino as secretary-general instead.

The player, who has worked in UEFA for nearly a decade and is in charge of player registration, legal and patent related matters, is no stranger to everyone present, and his eloquence is first-class, and it is a piece of cake for him to preside over such a draw ceremony, introducing the performance of each team in the group stage, which is also humorous, but it did not ease the tension at all.

Because it was broadcast live, a recap video of the group stage was shown on the big screen, introducing each team's qualification experience, and the most eye-catching of them was undoubtedly the alpine Bayern Munich.

The Bundesliga giants are the only team to have won all six of their group games, and a nightmare that all second-placed teams are afraid to avoid, and no one wants to draw them.

Since the final was scheduled at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, as is customary, the guest of honor of the Roma team, current club manager Bruno Conte, was invited to the draw.

Don't look at Bruno Conte wearing a suit and leather shoes, looking very gentlemanly, full of Apennine handsome, but in fact, he is a well-known youth expert in Europe, and a group of new generation players such as De Rossi are from his hand.

As a lottery guest, Bruno Conte spoke highly of what Gao Han did at Bayern Munich when he was joking with Infantino, and thought Gao Han's results were unbelievable.

"If you look at the transformation of Schweinsteiger, the use of Luka Modric, the training of Robben, the promotion and development of a group of young players such as Hummels, I think they are the best team in the group stage. ”

But when asked by Infantino which team Roma would like to draw the most, Bruno Conte replied with a smile, "I think everyone knows what to do." ”

There was a burst of laughter in the room.

In fact, everyone knows that the second-placed team that wants to draw the first team is Porto, because this is the weakest team in the group and the most promising to counterattack.

As for the team that the top team wants to draw the most, it is undoubtedly Panathinaikos.

The Greek side's run to the round of 16 this season is definitely surprising, but it is also because of this that the decline of the Bundesliga is all the more highlighted.

Because Werder Bremen in the same group couldn't even grab the second place in the group.

After a round of pleasantries, the draw ceremony soon began.

The organizer took the lead in putting the small ball with the names of the second teams of the eight groups in front of Infantino in the glass jar, and the UEFA secretary general reached in, and after some stirring, quickly selected one of them, unscrewed it, and called out the first team that was drawn.

"Panathinaikos!" Infantino announced with a smile as he flipped the note in the ball.

There was an uproar in the audience, but I didn't expect that the first team to be drawn turned out to be Panathinaikos, which immediately made the eight teams that won the group eager to try.

The live broadcast camera also specially gave the faces of the representatives of these eight teams, and everyone's expressions were full of expectation.

Everyone knows that if Panathinaikos is drawn, it almost means that he will qualify early.

Even the other seven second-placed teams in their group are secretly praying that it would be best for Panathinaikos to draw the teams they least want to meet, especially Bayern Munich.

God, just take the cold away!

Bruno Conte smiled and reached into one of the glass jars in front of him, took out a small ball, unscrewed it, and took out the note, the whole process happened quickly, but in the eyes of everyone it seemed to be very long.

Everyone's eyes widened as they watched Bruno Conte flip the note in his hand.

"Porto!"

There was an uproar in the conference hall, and the vast majority of people were sighing, except for the representatives of Porto who were snickering and snickering.

This is already the best lottery they have ever been able to draw.

Signed, definitely signed.

But for others, not necessarily.

The weakest team in the first group was drawn to the weakest team in the second group, is it really not boring? It has nothing to do with the average resources of the major leagues that Platini has been promoting since he came to power?

But everyone knows that this suspicion can always be a conspiracy theory.

Immediately on the big screen behind Infantino, Panathinaikos vs. Porto was played, and the draw continued.

The next team to be drawn in second place was Real Madrid, while Bruno Conte was drawn in first place by Liverpool, much to the dismay of Mijatovic, who was present for Real Madrid.

Rafael Benitez's side are known for their expertise in cup competitions, especially in the Champions League, and with Real Madrid's current situation, it will be very difficult to take out Liverpool in the Champions League.

Of course, it is better to draw Liverpool than Bayern Munich or Inter Milan.

So, it's a great lot.

And when both Liverpool and Real Madrid breathed a sigh of relief, Infantino took out a small ball from the glass jar again, unscrewed it, took out the note, and loudly announced, "Chelsea!"

When Peter Kenyon heard the name, his nerves tensed.

It's finally our turn!

Bruno Conte also reached into the glass jar and removed a small ball.

Watching the Roma legend unscrew the ball, Peter Kenyon closed his eyes nervously, his lips moved slightly, and if he got closer, he could hear him chanting, "No Bayern Munich, no Bayern Munich, no Bayern Munich." ”

"God, don't draw Bayern Munich!"