Volume 2 Chapter 55 The Quarterfinals
Nearly halfway through the 30th round of the Premier League, Liverpool beat Reading 3-0 at home, and although Manchester United beat Derby County 1-0 thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's goal, they still have a three-point gap with Liverpool.
On March 17, the delegation of the Champions League quarter-finals clubs will travel to Nyon, Switzerland, and the draw ceremony for the Champions League quarterfinals will be broadcast live at UEFA headquarters at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow.
Each Champions League draw is not only a high-level business gathering for teams and players to decide the fate of the next round of teams, whether they are good or bad, how far they want to go, but also a high-level business gathering for teams and players.
The major giants that can enter the quarterfinals are basically football powerhouses every year, and the relationship between them and the transactions that occur often detonate the football world every summer.
Today's Liverpool delegation consisted of club CEO Parry, manager Rafael Benitez, captain Steven Gerrard, midfield core Marcos Alonso, and Champions League top scorer Mackqin, as well as two staff members.
Marc was able to go thanks to his current third-highest scorer in the Champions League, and several people flew directly to Geneva, Switzerland, which is internationally renowned and home to countless international organizations, located on the southwest side of Lake Geneva.
When I arrived in Geneva, I didn't bother to visit, went straight to the train station, and spent more than an hour to rush to the small city of Nyon on the west side of Lake Geneva, which is not too much, and the population of the whole city is less than 20,000 people, and it is located on the slopes of Lake Geneva (also called Lake Leman).
The UEFA reception staff arranged for them to leave at the hotel where they were entertained, it was already late, and tomorrow they had three hours of free time to go to the draw ceremony at noon.
Old houses, alleys, and lakes, this town gives Makqin the feeling that in addition to tranquility, it is quiet, whether it is the laziness of the sun or the leisurely streets, there is a sense of slowness.
This is a place for nostalgia, like the faded colors in old photos.
"Did you know that this was the place where Julius Caesar's Roman legions conquered Europe?" The three of them walked by the lake, and Alonso began to flaunt his erudition again.
Gerald glanced at him and said, "You didn't say you studied economics, I thought you studied history."
"Haha", it's really annoying that you have a high degree of education......
"I don't know the history, but the porcelain here is very famous, especially the delicate little patterns, Steven, why don't you buy some and give them back to your daughter?" , Makqin asked.
"If you don't say it, I really forgot about ......"
……
They weren't here for a tourist, but at noon, they went back to the hotel and set off with the others to the UEFA headquarters, a modern building surrounded by glass.
The reporters at the door were already crowded, and every delegation that got off the car was surrounded and asked enough questions before letting them in, and when they arrived, they just saw Lord Ferdinand Ronaldo walking into the gate.
"Benitez, who would you most like to meet?" "Gerrard, which two teams do you think will have a Premier League civil war?" "Mark, do you think you have any hope of being the top scorer? ”
While squeezing in under the opening of the staff, they casually answered all kinds of questions, "We are confident that we will win whoever we meet", "We are in ...... state right now"
After trekking through mountains and rivers, they finally squeezed in, and there was a different scene inside, the characters of the major delegations were basically all there, and they were chatting together, and they dispersed separately, and waited until the time to go to the venue to attend the ceremony together.
Mark Qin is not familiar with anyone, all those who are familiar are enemies, so he can only wander around boringly.
"Hello, Mark", a warm voice came from the side.
"Huh?" , he turned his head to look, paused for a moment, and quickly said, "Hello, President Moratti"
The visitor was wearing a traditional navy blue suit from Inter, with gray hair and glasses, looking very gentle, "Mark, I have been following you since last year, I appreciate you, especially your style of play, Inter is on the road to a great revival, how is it, are you interested in coming here?" ”
"Uh", so direct, "Thank you for the compliment, I'm still young and Liverpool are fine now, so ......"
He nodded and smiled to show understanding, "Mark, as long as I am still at Inter, you are welcome to come over at any time, and we have a deep fan base and extensive cooperation in China......
The old man was very talkative and began to talk about the history of Inter and the glory of Serie A over the past decade or so, an old man who had dedicated all his love to the club, despite the controversy surrounding his criticism of the club's competition.
"Thank you, Mr. Moratti, I will definitely consider it seriously", after he finished speaking, Mark Qin responded politely, and Moratti also politely said goodbye, this time it is considered to be acquaintance.
Albert of Barcelona not far away looked at Mackhard with a smile, looked at him, nodded his head in court, next to him was Rijkaard, they had made a lot of trouble for Mackchen, and now it was inconvenient for him to come.
He met Ronaldo, Totti, and Ibrahimovic, who has been known for a long time, is still a minor character in the eyes of these long-established stars.
Fortunately, the door of the conference room was opened soon after, and he walked to the venue with the club members, and sat in the club's own area.
UEFA Premiere Director Taylor took the stage to preside over the draw ceremony, with this year's ambassador Hierro acting as the drawing tool.
It began with Taylor's opening remarks, which reflected on the performances of the quarter-finalists in the group stage and the round of 16, and then reaffirmed UEFA's commitment to fairness, impartiality and openness, among other things.
"I really want to draw to Barcelona, don't be tired of watching the English Civil War", said Sine in the live broadcast room.
Today, Sine conducted a live broadcast of the whole draw ceremony, and there was also a famous football commentator Zhang Luzhang in the chat room to answer questions.
"The lottery has begun......
Hierro smiled and walked up to the stage, took a ball out of the jar, smiled and lit it up to the audience, and then opened, "The first team to draw is Roma", he held up the note and gestured around.
"I'm Pu, I'm Pu", "I'm Lian, I'm Lian", "I'm a car, I'm a car", "I'm Sa, I'm Sa", the sine chat room was full of chickens and dogs, and Roma should be the second most willing to meet in the quarterfinals besides Fenerbahce.
Hierro continued, he opened the second ball and unfolded the light, "Manchester United"
"Oh~~", there was a suppressed cheer in the conference room, Lord Fu smiled proudly, Totti's face darkened, he still remembered last year's 7:1.
"Hahaha, my big Manchester United is so lucky, this is the rhythm of the top four......"
The third goal, "Inter Milan"
Inter Milan have not reached the last four of the Champions League for many years, and their manager Mancini and chairman Moratti are looking forward to it, hurry, Fenerbahce, come to the bowl......
Hierro lived up to expectations and pulled out the fourth goal, "Barcelona", and he smiled and gestured around.
After the calf, Mackin has more and more a hunch that they are going to be put on the English Civil War, but it must not be Chelsea, these two teams meet, who loses and who wins, can only depend on luck.
"Arsenal", Hierro showed the fifth goal.
"Chelsea, Chelsea ......", the MKQ18 group is full of fragmented thoughts, "but don't be Fenerbahce"
Arsene Wenger is also a bit nervous, their league title hopes are getting slimmer and he wants to go far in the Champions League.
Hierro smiled and touched the sixth ball, which touched the hearts of the remaining four teams, he smiled and opened the ball, pulled out a note, "Liverpool", he lit around.
"Whew", Mark Qin breathed a sigh of relief, civil war is inevitable, it is much better to touch Arsenal than Chelsea, their recent form is not good.
Benitez and Gerrard also looked acceptable, Wenger was a little bitter and bitter, three in a row!
In the 33rd round of the league in early April, Arsenal played Liverpool at home, and the two Champions League games were exactly left and right, with Arsenal playing two home games first and the last away.
"Oops, it's really a civil war, it's Nana's ......", the group was tossed.
"I knew that UEFA's urine was acceptable, Arsenal are the best in the semi-finals now", someone replied.
The last two balls don't actually need to be drawn, but you still have to determine the order of home and away, so you still have to draw, Grant is broken, pie in the sky!
The final four matches are as follows, home and away:
Roma vs Manchester United,
Inter Milan vs Barcelona,
Arsenal vs Liverpool,
Chelsea v Fenerbahce
Before it was over, the news of the major media was released, "Arsenal Liverpool suffered a civil war in England", "Manchester United and Chelsea were drawn", "Barcelona Inter", the dream of the four giants of the Premier League to gather in the Champions League semi-finals that the English media was looking forward to was shattered......
"The final four must be Manchester United, Barcelona, Liverpool, Chelsea, as evidence!" , and the prediction posts of the top four quickly popped up on the Internet.
The other three games are easy to predict, in the English Civil War, the crowd is completely frightened by Arsenal's recent sluggish state, in this state, how can it be possible to win against Liverpool, which has just been full of blood?
"Cesc Fabregas and Mackin are finally going to have a showdown", and there are also those who pay attention to the battle of stars, but he is still naturally and unnaturally classified by fans into the category of midfield.
'We are happy with the draw, we beat Roma last year and it will be the same this year,' said Ferguson in an interview at the door.
"Mark, are you confident of beating Cesc Fabregas?" , funny, he's a midfielder, I'm a striker, what's my business!
Liverpool did not give any more interviews, there is really nothing to say about this kind of civil war, go home and sharpen your knives, fight, Mackin walked at the end of the line, and when he passed by the Manchester United delegation, he was stopped.
"Hey Mark, we'll see you at Old Trafford," Ronaldo said with a serious face.
He paused, turned his head to look at Ronaldo, smiled, and nodded, "See you then"
The most depressed person is Wenger, whose style is the most comparable to Liverpool among the four teams.
Because Arsenal is not tough and defensive, they can't break Liverpool's attacking routine, and they can only fight for goals in the end.
The Liverpool team returned to Liverpool on the same day, and a day later, the rest of the round continued.
Tottenham and Chelsea played a frantic 4-4, Arsenal relied on Toure's goal to draw Middlesbrough with difficulty, and Liverpool and Manchester United temporarily opened up the gap with them.
From now on, their chances of winning the title are shrinking infinitely, and one team is fine, Liverpool and Manchester United, two teams in full swing, are in a state of breaking through, and expecting them to both make mistakes, which may be even lower than winning the lottery.
Don't care about anything else, three days later it will be the battle of Tianwang Mountain at Old Trafford, and the battle will be settled!
The whole Melwood began to train behind closed doors, and they couldn't afford to lose this game......
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