Chapter 496: European Cup Draw

Real Madrid are finally back in top form, starting a winning streak after Quaresma's return from injury.

In the 12th round of the league, Real Madrid faced Mallorca at home, and Real Madrid, which bottomed out, did not leave any chance for the opponent, and won the opponent cleanly, Quaresma scored a goal and contributed an assist, and was awarded the best player of the game.

In the 13th round of the league, Real Madrid challenged Murcia away, although it was an away game, but the opponent who was extremely fish did not even have a chance to pose a threat to Real Madrid, and it was simply solved in the first half.

After scoring twice in this game, Quaresma was substituted for a second-half break to prepare for the next Champions League group game, but unfortunately he was unable to score a hat-trick.

However, in the fifth round of the Champions League group stage, away to Bremen, the firepower Quaresma directly beat the German team to self-containment, two passes and two shots perfectly dominated the game, and Real Madrid also blossomed more and won the game without suspense.

As for saying that Germany is the graveyard of Real Madrid, maybe it was, but now I'm sorry, no one can stop Real Madrid now.

After this group stage, Real Madrid has locked the top spot in the group one round in advance, completed the set goal, and secured the qualification in this uneven group.

In this way, Real Madrid can send young players to work out in the sixth round of the group stage, and there is no longer a need for the main players to waste their energy to play an inconsequential game.

As for whether the others are happy or not, who cares!

Next, in the 14th round of La Liga, Real Madrid won Racing Santander at home without blood, continuing its strong momentum.

Quaresma still scored again, and the momentum of consecutive goals was more ferocious than Real Madrid's winning streak.

At the end of the 14 rounds of La Liga, the intensive schedule has finally come to an end, and at this time, whether it is in the La Liga standings or the La Liga scorer list, it seems that all the suspense has disappeared.

Real Madrid are far ahead!

Quaresma is far ahead!

In the standings, Real Madrid left Barcelona by 9 points with 37 points and dominated the standings, a gap that made Barcelona desperate.

You know, in 14 La Liga games, Real Madrid has only lost one, there is a draw, and the remaining 12 games have won all of them, which cannot be said to be the best start, but it is good enough;

Moreover, Quaresma was both sidelined due to injury in the two games in which Real Madrid dropped points, otherwise it seems not impossible for Real Madrid to win all of them.

In contrast, Barcelona's performance is far inferior to Real Madrid.

Three losses and four draws, although this result is acceptable according to previous seasons, but Real Madrid is in front, which is a bit unacceptable.

The league has only been 1/3, and Barcelona has already fallen behind by so many points, such a big gap, how to catch up?

Can you still expect Barcelona to make a strong effort in the future and catch up?

It's ridiculous to think about!

With Quaresma here, Real Madrid is not so easy to collapse!

And for Barcelona, in fact, the trouble is not Real Madrid, but Atletico Madrid and Villarreal behind them.

The gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid is too big, but the gap between Atletico Madrid and Villarreal and Barcelona is not big at all.

Not to mention chasing Real Madrid, if you are not careful, Barcelona will be caught up by Yellow Submarine and Atletico Madrid.

Judging from the current situation, Real Madrid's domination of La Liga has almost become a foregone conclusion, even if there is a brief period of low and low, but once Real Madrid quickly adjusts, then it is almost impossible for other teams to have a chance.

After all, no team can win forever, even if Real Madrid loses a few games, can you guarantee that you will always win?

For Real Madrid fans, they feel that they can already celebrate the La Liga title more than half a season in advance, which is definitely the most exciting thing.

Even if the Barcelona fans are still stubborn, in the face of the huge gap, any rebuttal they make will be pale.

In the La Liga standings, Quaresma's advantage is even more obvious than Real Madrid's.

In 14 La Liga rounds, Quaresma scored 15 goals, averaging a goal efficiency of more than one goal per game, crushing any super goalscorer.

Don't forget, Quaresma isn't a full-time player in La Liga.

Against Sevilla and Valencia, Quaresma is still recovering from injuries at home!

Coupled with Schuster's usual rotation and rest, Quaresma was often substituted for 70 minutes, and if you add up these scattered hours, it is estimated that it will be more than 90 minutes in a game.

This terrible goal efficiency has made the other super goalscorers embarrassed, no matter what, they can't do it.

On the scorer list, Quaresma is outstanding, although Guiza, who is in second place, has performed amazingly, and has been blown into the sky by the media and fans in previous seasons, but now that Quaresma is there, his light can't shine at all, and the whole thing is dimmed there.

As for Raul and Fabiano and others in the back, the number of goals is not as good as that of Guiza, and it is even more incomparable with Quaresma.

......

The league entered a break of more than a week, and the rest of the players were given a chance to rest, but Quaresma had to travel to France to attend the awards ceremony held by France Football.

That's right, this year's winner of the European Ballon d'Or is Quaresma, an honour that the Portuguese has won for the second consecutive year.

In fact, Quaresma got the news of his award about a few days ago, and then the camera team of "France Football" came to Madrid to shoot the cover photo of Quaresma.

So, the final prize acceptance is just a formality.

What's the suspense about this?

In a year without a major tournament, the Champions League has the largest share of the Double Footballer of the Year, followed by the top five leagues, and Quaresma has been flawless in any of the performances.

It's really interesting to say that in the final ranking of the European Ballon d'Or, last season's Arsenal players actually won the top three.

The reason is very simple, Arsenal won the Champions League and won the Premier League, and no one can dominate European football.

Quaresma won the Golden Globe, there is nothing to say, even some boasting have to admit that Quaresma deserves the Golden Globe.

The second place in the Ballon d'Or is Ballack, the German supported the backbone of Arsenal last season, the attack can go up, the defense can come back, without him, Arsenal's midfield may still be criticized for not being strong enough.

The third place is actually Fabiregas, because of the arrival of Ballack, Xiaofa's attacking talent has been completely liberated, and he is also an important core of Arsenal's perfect results.

However, it is a pity that Henry's mid-season injury will be directly reimbursed for the season, otherwise there must be a place for Henry.

After the three, there are superstars such as Kaka and Ronaldo, although their individual performance is extremely outstanding, but Arsenal's results are too strong, even if Ballack and Xiaofa's individual performance may not be as dazzling as theirs, but because of the bonus of results, they are still ranked behind.

But this season, several of Arsenal's stars may not be so highly rated.

Now, Arsenal's results in the Premier League are not stable, they are pressed by Manchester United, who have almost reached their peak form, and there are Liverpool and Chelsea behind them, and even the second place is in jeopardy.

The departure of a star has made such a big difference to a team, and Quaresma is probably the first in world football.

Of course, Quaresma has nothing to say, after all, he didn't want to leave at the beginning, and no one could throw this pot on his head.

You know, when Arsenal got the 160 million transfer fee, it was beautiful!

......

Lifting the Ballon d'Or trophy for the second time, Quaresma was still just as excited, and there would not be too many people to win such a top honor.

This thing, put it in a row at home and play with it, it couldn't be better!

However, to Quaresma's pity, he remembers that FIFA later annexed the Ballon d'Or, combining the World Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or into one.

Not to mention anything else, there's one less trophy to play with!

Well, anyway, let's collect these trophies one by one in the future!

I'm the worst collector in football!

After the awards, public opinion actually did not break out, because before the awards, it had already exploded.

After all, there is no suspense, and the hype has been completed, and now the report will be a successful end.

However, now public opinion is more keen to analyze and predict who the next winner will be.

Quaresma is still in full swing, Cristiano Ronaldo is also in hot form in the Premier League, and as long as it is supported by the results of Real Madrid and Manchester United, the biggest possibility is that one of the two Portuguese will stand on the podium this time next year.

Of course, Quaresma's chances of winning the championship are much higher than Ronaldo's, after all, Quaresma is now a well-deserved first person, even if Ronaldo performs well, there is still a big gap with Quaresma.

As for the other players, it's even worse!

Kaka is at home at Milan, but he seems to have been plagued by injuries and his performance has not been consistent.

Several of Arsenal's key players are also facing this problem, and there is no guarantee of Arsenal's results.

As for Barcelona's Messi, with Real Madrid firmly suppressing Barcelona, it doesn't look like a little flea is about to come out.

Either way, the young talents of world football have begun to emerge, and everyone is full of excitement for the future of football.

Not to mention others, just one Quaresma is enough to attract more people to pay attention to football!

......

Having won the Ballon d'Or the night before, Quaresma didn't fly back to Madrid right away.

The next day, I participated in some business events in Paris during the day, after all, it was a sponsor, and I always had to give some face.

In the evening, Quaresma returned to the hotel and sat on the sofa, staring at the TV.

Today, it is the group draw ceremony for Euro 08.

Portugal successfully broke through from the group stage and qualified for the main stage, and Quaresma was eager to know who Portugal would meet in the group stage as the World Cup champion!

It's a bit bad to say, because of the points, Portugal is placed in the second pot, and if the lottery guests shudder, there may be a group of death.

Quaresma believes he can lead Portugal to good results, but he won't forget how terrifyingly controlled Spain will be at next year's European Championships.

Therefore, in the group stage, you can save effort, you can save effort, the front is too fierce, and the back wants to fight but you can't fight.

In the first pot of the division, the hosts Switzerland and Austria are in the team, the defending champion Greece is in the team, and there is the Netherlands team with the highest points;

In the second tranche, there are Croatia, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Portugal;

Thirdly, there are Sweden, Romania, Germany, and Spain;

In the fourth tranche, there is Poland, France, Turkey, and Russia;

This is the bracket that was determined before the draw.

Four teams in the same bracket will certainly not be placed in the same group, which means that among the favourites, only the traditional powerhouse Italy has avoided Portugal perfectly.

Interestingly, England actually cooled in the qualifiers, and was defeated by Croatia in the final round of qualifiers, ending the qualifying journey with the third place in the group, and saying goodbye to the European Championship completely.

But even if England is not here, and so many strong teams are in the ranks, I'm afraid it's really no joke to draw out the group of death.

Quaresma had been calculating.

If you meet Spain in the group stage, that's not bad.

In the group stage, it will be directly dead, and if you don't get it, you may be able to eliminate Spain directly.

If you can't meet Spain, then it's better not to meet a strong team, so that Portugal can save some energy and play well in the knockout rounds when the time comes.

Soon, the draw ceremony began.

The first thing to draw is Group A

The teams in Pot 1 and Pot 2 are Switzerland and the Czech Republic respectively.

When the lottery guests put their hands into the third disc, Quaresma became inexplicably nervous.

Considering that only France is considered a strong team in the fourth pot, it would be good to draw Portugal out at this time.

"Portugal!"

When the lottery guest opened the note and read the words on it, Quaresma was so excited that she almost didn't jump up.

It's really drawn to Portugal!

In fact, it's been a long time since Quaresma has been so excited about the draw!

The national team games are different from the club games, in the club, whether in Arsenal or Real Madrid, there is a strong strength of the club as the foundation, and with the sublimation of Quaresma, there is no need to worry about any opponent at all.

But the national team is different, on the one hand, after the golden generation withdrew from the stage of history, Portugal's strength inevitably declined;

On the other hand, he knows how strong Spain is!

If Portugal can't break Spain's dominance of passing, then there is no hope of winning the title at all.

So, now the draw is important!

That's a good result!

When the lottery guests opened the last note and drew Turkey into the group, Quaresma knew that the big picture was decided!

......