"Champions League?" , In the hotel where he stayed in Moscow and Milan, Russia, Chen Long looked out the window, full of thoughts, and felt a little incredible. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Once upon a time, he was a six-year-old who could play football, and after a decade of bustling, he is now one of the top players in the Champions League.

Chen Long knows very well in his heart that he is lucky enough to be in the Champions League squad, and as for playing for the team, this may not be as easy as in the league, after all, every match in the Champions League is not to be underestimated or underestimated for Milan.

As early as the first meeting with Mourinho, Mourinho once said that the goal of the team in the new season is to win the Serie A championship, the Champions League, and the Italian Cup, which is the "treble", so Chen Long knows very well that if he wants to represent the team this season, he will be limited to league and cup competitions at most, which is also possible when the team encounters some weak teams, just like Udinese before.

As for the Champions League match, it is unceremonious to say that he is purely "playing soy sauce". Mourinho values him again, and it is also based on the interests of the team.

Chen Long has actually heard about the Champions League a long time ago, and at the same time, he is also very eager to participate in it.

The UEFA Champions League, referred to as the Champions League, is an annual football competition hosted by the Union of European Football Associations, representing the highest honor and level of European club football, and is considered to be the highest quality, most influential and highest level of club competition in the world, and is also one of the world's highest-money football and sporting events.

When the top 4 of the Champions League are grouped, the winner of a certain group and a certain team is generally determined by drawing lots as the home team in the final. The team that is selected as the home team for the final will use the home team dressing room.

The predecessor of the Champions League was the European Champions Clubs' Cup, which was created in the 1955/1956 season. In the 1992/1993 season, UEFA officially changed the format and name of the tournament, so that the tournament was renamed the current "UEFA Champions League" (UEFA Champions League) and the old name "UEFA Club Champions Cup" was applied to the current championship trophy. Counting the European Champions Cup era, Real Madrid has won a total of 11 titles, followed by AC Milan with 7 titles, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Barcelona with 5 titles, and Ajax with 4 titles.

Criteria for entering the group stage: The number of teams that will advance directly to the group stage is 32 (31 teams + the defending champions), and the three federations with the highest UEFA points will each have three teams directly into the group stage. Football associations ranked 4th to 6th each have two teams directly entered. Football associations ranked 7th to 12th each have one team directly entered. Together with the 10 teams in the play-offs, a total of 32 teams will compete in the group stage of the Champions League.

The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four teams each. The two best finishers advance to the knockout stage, with the third-placed teams from eight groups progressing to the Europa League round of 32, with the four best teams seeded alongside the winners of each group in the Europa League. The eligibility criteria are as follows:

18 championship spots

0 or 1 place for the reigning Champions League: Usually the reigning champions of the previous edition of the Champions League qualify directly through the domestic rankings, so they do not occupy the place for the defending champions. Occasionally, the defending champions were out of the game in the domestic league that year (e.g. in 2011/2012, when defending champions Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League) and were required to occupy the defending champions' spot;

13 or 12 domestic champions: usually the top 13 league champions of each UEFA association, or the top 12 domestic champions if the defending champions are occupied;

The 5 domestic champions who qualify through the qualifying champion route: All domestic champions other than the 13 or 12 domestic champions mentioned above can compete for these 5 group stage spots through the championship route.

In recent seasons, with the recovery of Serie A, Milan's strength has also risen all the way, and the Nerazzurri who used to dominate the Champions League are back.

Milan's Champions League results in recent years are the best interpretation, 2017-2018 season, Champions League round of 16, 2018-2019 season, Champions League round of 16, 2019-2020, Champions League top 4, 2020-2021 season, Champions League round of 8, 2022-2023 season, Champions League top 4.

Last season, that is, the 2022-2023 season, was the closest Milan came to the Champions League final in recent years, in the semi-finals, Milan's opponent was the Premier League champion Manchester City, the two sides fought two games at home and away, the score was still 0:0, and finally in the points battle, Milan unfortunately went out 5:6. Perhaps because of this, this season, Mourinho's goal is very direct, that is, "revenge" and win the final championship! This season, Milan's strength has improved to a certain extent compared with last season, which also gives Mourinho a lot of confidence.

This season, Milan have been drawn to Group D, along with Russian club CSKA Moscow, Swiss side Malmo and French Lyon.

Overall, Milan should be the strongest team in Group D, followed by Lyon, CSKA Moscow and Malmo.

But at the same time, everyone knows that the team that can enter the Champions League group stage will not be fuel-efficient, although Milan is the strongest team in the group, but this does not mean that it is necessary to break through from the group stage, in the previous Champions League group stage, the eliminated super team is often staged.

Therefore, for Milan, we must attach great importance to every opponent, take the first group stage opponent CSKA Moscow as an example, CSKA Moscow is one of the overlords of the Russian Super Champions, has won the Russian Premier League championship many times, and the team is also a frequent visitor to the Champions League, with very rich combat experience, especially the Champions League home games, the results are very good.

It is also destined that although Milan is stronger than CSKA Moscow, it will not be easy to win this game away from home.

This can be seen from Mourinho's previous public bombardment of the Italian Football Federation, obviously, in Mourinho's heart, Milan, who is a little tired, is not easy to win the opponent away. (To be continued.) )