The draw for the 2006-2007 Champions League was held at the Grimaldi Convention and Cultural Centre in Monaco.

In front of the Maldi Convention and Cultural Center that day, sports media reporters from all walks of life gathered, all of whom were waiting for the draw ceremony and preparing to interview the participating teams.

For journalists, the Champions League draw is a big deal.

The results of the draw affect the Champions League, and it is only one of the reasons, the senior management of the major clubs participating in the draw will definitely gather together, most of the teams are the head coach himself, such as last season's outstanding performance, there are stars selected for the UEFA award list, stars will also come along, and there will be many opportunities for media reporters to interview.

An hour before the start of the draw, representatives of each club arrived in turn, and there were also invited guests and celebrities, all of whom shouted their names one by one, all of which had a certain influence in European football.

The media reporters who were waiting for them immediately began their interview work.

The trio of Zhang Yang, Wise and Wilkinson were unremarkable, and they didn't even make a splash as they walked down the brick road of the convention center to the venue.

One is that Millwall is not well-known, and its influence is negligible on a European scale.

Second, the three of them are too strange to journalists from other countries.

Zhang Yang is somewhat famous, and many other national media know about it, but compared to other top coaches, Zhang Yang is nothing, and Millwall, which he represents, is not favored.

In addition, Zhang Yang is a Chinese, and the appearance of Chinese people is similar in the eyes of Europeans, and they have only seen Zhang Yang's foreign reporters on TV or photos, and they dare not look at it to determine that it is Zhang Yang.

Dennis Wise is an 'outdated' star who is quickly forgotten when he leaves the public eye, and most people don't even know that Wise is Millwall's assistant coach.

Wilkinson......

Among Millwall's 'trio', Wilkinson is the most eye-catching, he will have a fairly high return rate wherever he goes, if you don't know what kind of beauty you think he is, but what attracts attention is the strange looks.

Wilkinson seemed to get used to this, and smiled and greeted the people who came to him.

"My heart is so big!"

Zhang Yang secretly complained, thinking sympathetically, "Maybe it's just that the sadness in my heart is not revealed...... What a pity! Then he felt that he was still too kind-hearted, and if it was the first time he saw Wilkinson, he would definitely be shocked by his surprising appearance, and he would definitely not be able to help but look at it a few more times.

Ahem......

Yes, that's right, it would be a look of sympathy, not a monster-like look of astonishment.

Wilkinson was quickly recognized.

Maybe if you've seen it once, it's hard to forget this face.

In Europe, Millwall's influence is not great, but England is very popular, Millwall is the focus of the English media, and Zhang Yang is the darling of the media.

Reporters in England recognized Wilkinson and immediately noticed Zhang Yang, and then several reporters rushed over, squeezed the first 'hero' Wilkinson aside, surrounded Zhang Yang and began to interview.

The reporters' questions were summed up in one sentence, "What opponent does Millwall hope to meet?" ”

Zhang Yang said with a smile, "We got the Community Shield a few days ago, and I said at that time that Millwall is only playing in the Champions League to gain experience. The Champions League is still too new to us. So it's the same for any kind of opponent, and it's better to meet some strong teams, which will allow us to accumulate more and better experience. ”

"However, I believe that the whole team will work hard and will pay attention to ......"

The last sentence was ignored by the reporters, and they hurriedly wrote down what Zhang Yang said, and couldn't help but complain, "Is this guy telling the truth?" ”

Zhang Yang ignored what the reporters thought, and after accepting the interview as usual, he walked into the venue with Wise and Wilkinson.

At this time, there were quite a few people sitting in the venue.

Seeing other people entering, everyone in the venue looked over, for the European teams, the Millwall 'trio' is too unfamiliar, even Zhang Yang.

Reporters from other national media know about Zhang Yang, but many of the club's head coaches and managers don't know, and when the three of them walked into the venue, some people whispered, "Who are they?" ”

"Which team's representative?"

"The short guy in the suit...... What is the pedigree? How long is ...... Ahem. ”

"I know the one on the left, it's Dennis Wise, I don't know what he does now, how did he come to the lottery?"

“……”

There are also those who recognize Millwall's group at a glance, and it must be the league rivals.

Mourinho in the front row snorted coldly.

Ferguson was sitting on the side seat, talking to a middle-aged man, when he turned his head to see Zhang Yang and his group, his tone suddenly leaked, and his face showed slight disdain.

The middle-aged man next to him looked over and asked, "...... are they?" ”

"Millwall!"

The middle-aged man suddenly realized, "That young man is Millwall's head coach Zhang Yang?" ”

Ferguson nodded.

Then the two staggered the topic and continued to talk.

The arrival of Zhang Yang and his entourage did not cause any waves, only Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger took the initiative to greet him and warmly greeted the three of them and the Arsenal representatives.

Arsene Wenger and Zhang Yang sat side by side and talked about the Champions League draw.

Arsenal won the Champions League last season, and according to UEFA's new rules, they squeezed out Liverpool's place and qualified for the Champions League qualifiers.

Aside from their path to qualification this season, Arsenal are also regulars in the Champions League, where they are one of the eight seeded teams in the main draw.

The other seven seeds are: Barcelona, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Valencia and Lyon.

The second tier of teams are: Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Roma, Celtic, Lille, Sporting Lisbon.

Millwall won the Premier League, but because they had no experience in European competitions, they only had the basic points of the national/league standings, and were only placed in Pot 3, and Millwall used in Tier 1 were Benfica, Bordeaux, Steaua Bucharest, Werder Bremen, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow and AEK Athens.

The teams in the bottom pot are Anderlecht, Dynamo Kyiv, Levsky Sofialevsky, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Hamburg, Moss Spartak and FC Copenhagen.

It is still very important for each team to be graded.

Among the 32 teams participating in the Champions League, there must be strong and weak, according to the UEFA points to divide the grades, in order to make the eight groups of balanced strength, strong teams, easy to get the chance to qualify, not only to ensure fairness, but also to make the knockout round after the round of 16, more able to attract the attention of fans.

Things are not good at Millwall.

Millwall is only a third-tier team, and there is a big problem: Millwall will definitely have first-tier and second-tier teams in the group, plus Millwall, it is equivalent to three strong teams.

From the first and second tiers, picking any two teams to join will make Millwall's group a real group of death.

This is also a flaw in the Champions League group draw.

UEFA will not change the rules for Millwall, so Millwall has long been destined to be in the Group of Death.

Zhang Yang had been prepared for this, and when he talked to Wenger, he said nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter what opponent we meet, for us, coming to the Champions League is just to accumulate experience......

Wenger stared at Zhang Yang for a long time, and said with a wry smile, "You actually told me what you said to the media." ”

"Haha......"

Zhang Yang staggered the topic with a smile, and he didn't want to talk about grouping.

Millwall is destined to enter the group of death, what else is there to say? You just have to look at the two teams against them.

————

The draw ceremony began.

The Champions League group draw ceremony is also the award ceremony of last season's Champions League awards, and as the draw ceremony unfolds, the list of winners of each award is also announced.

Arsenal and Barcelona were the champions and runners-up last season, and they are all 'big players' who produce award candidates.

The media's cameras frequently pointed at Wenger, and Zhang Yang, who was sitting next to Wenger, completely became a foil, and he could imagine what fans who didn't know him would say in front of the TV.

"Who is the player next to Arsene Wenger?"

Or, 'Why haven't I seen him at Arsenal?' ”

Even, "He's so young, but how can he be so close to Arsene Wenger, is he Wenger's nephew?" ”

In any case, fans don't think of him as the manager of any other team because he looks so young, and sitting next to Arsene Wenger will also associate him with Wenger or with Arsenal.

Zhang Yang is a little embarrassed.

But Zhang Yang couldn't help it, how to smile, or how to continue to smile, until one by one, the names were revealed from the hands of the guests, and the camera finally pointed to other positions.

Barcelona.

Ac milan.

Chelsea.

Dynamo Kyiv.

CSKA Moscow.

Hamburg.

The names of the teams were read out, the groups were roughly outlined, and the most interesting thing was that Barcelona and Chelsea were placed in a group, and looking at Mourinho's dark face, you could see that they were very unhappy with the result.

Barcelona and Chelsea are really a couple of life and death rivals, and they have been entangled in recent seasons.

Jose Mourinho's first season in charge of Chelsea, where Chelsea eliminated Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League; Barcelona got their revenge last season by knocking out Chelsea in the round of 16; This season, the two teams have been placed in a group.

This kind of grouping made Zhang Yang feel a little sympathy for Mourinho, and he also felt that there must be an inside story in the UEFA grouping, but he was not interested in it at all, but gloated over what happened to Chelsea, cough cough...... Mourinho was unlucky, but it was very much in line with his heart.

Finally it was Millwall's turn.

Millwall's name was pronounced and they were drawn to Group D, with Valencia and Roma in the same group, with the last team yet to be decided.

Seeing this grouping, Zhang Yang pulled the corners of his mouth and was stunned.

Wenger turned his head in surprise, shook his head and smiled, "Your luck is really good!" ”

Zhang Yang clenched his fists fiercely, couldn't help but take a long breath, and couldn't help sighing, "It's really ...... It's a good sign! ”