After winning the Merseyside derby, Liverpool have won four consecutive league games.

Also on a four-game winning streak are Arsenal, who are behind Liverpool by goals. Manchester United unexpectedly lost to Southampton in this round of the game, and the top two opened up a three-point gap of points.

After the city derby, Chen Xi flew to Monaco with coach Benitez and club CEO Perry, because there will be a draw ceremony for this season's Champions League group stage!

The reason why Chen Xi went to the ceremony was because this draw ceremony would also be mixed with the award ceremony of the major awards in European football last season, and Chen Xi was the winner of the European Golden Boot last season!

At 4 p.m. Monaco time, the ceremony officially began!

Before the draw began, the host introduced the rules of the draw: the teams participating in the draw include the defending champion AC Milan, 15 teams that directly entered the group stage, 16 teams that entered through the qualifying round, including 12 former champions, as well as Belgrade Partizan, Stuttgart, Real Sociedad, the 3 teams that entered for the first time, Marseille, which won the championship for the first time after the Champions League was restructured into the "Champions League", returned to the Champions Cup after a gap of 4 years, but Dortmund was eliminated in the qualifying round, Be the only one out of the championship team in the last 10 years.

According to the UEFA club points, the 32 teams are divided into 4 brackets, with AC Milan seeded with the top 7 teams, followed by 8 teams in Pot 2, and so on. During the draw, one team from each pot will be drawn to form a group, for a total of 8 groups, provided that the teams in the same league are not in the same group. From the beginning of this season, the Champions Cup has made a change, with only one stage in the group stage, with the top two teams from each group, a total of 16 teams going directly to the knockout stage.

In terms of fixture arrangement, teams from the same league will try to stagger the home and away games as much as possible. The specific dates of the 6 rounds are: September 16/17, September 30/October 1, October 21/22, November 4/5, November 25/26, December 9/10, 2003. The final will be played on 26 May next year at the Schalke Stadium in Gelsenkirchen.

Liverpool have a very impressive record in the history of the Champions League, but due to their poor record in recent seasons, they were eventually placed in Pot 2.

The teams in Pot 1 are AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Lazio, Arsenal, Juventus and Deportivo La Coruna.

Given the rules of different groups in the same league, Liverpool will likely be in a group with the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus.

In addition, in Pot 3 and Pot 4, teams such as Celtic, Ajax, Marseille, Stuttgart and Monaco are also quite strong.

The draw was held in conjunction with last season's European awards of the Year.

Before the draw began, UEFA presented the best goalkeeper award for last season, which was won by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who led Juventus to the final last season.

After Buffon finished his speech to accept the award, the draw ceremony officially began under the attention of the major clubs, and everyone had the same idea, that is, they wanted to avoid the strong teams and share with the relatively weak teams. After all, in the Champions League, going one step further means more money.

The draw for the first team is still relatively easy, because the final opponent is not yet visible.

The teams in Pot 1 from Group A to Group H are: Bayern, Arsenal, Deportivo La Coruna, Juventus, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Lazio, AC Milan.

After the first draw, the award for European Defender of the Year begins. The winner of this award is left-back Robert Carlos from Real Madrid.

This was followed by the draw for the second pot team, and at this time, both the managers and officials of the first pot teams who had already played, as well as the coaches and officials of the next few grades, began to pay close attention. It can be said that the second-tier draw is the most critical. He will be the best player in a group, and some fans will be watching to see if there will be the kind of strong conversations they like in the group stage.

Chen Xi can also feel the tension between Benitez and Perry around him at this time, Benitez is thinking about the team's record, while Perry is obviously considering the high income in the Champions League.

In the second gear, the first one to draw out is Lyon, the strength of the French league hegemon team is neither strong nor weak, so this group of first-tier team Bayern is also a little relieved after learning of this result, which is much stronger than meeting Liverpool and Inter Milan.

The second to be drawn is Inter Milan, as soon as this sign is drawn, the atmosphere on the scene ushered in a wave of small **. Because Inter Milan can be regarded as one of the strongest teams in the second tier.

The coaches and officials of the other first-tier teams were relieved, while Wenger and Arsenal officials were a little helpless, lamenting in their hearts that the times were not good.

After that, PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray, Palacinachs and Porto were placed in Groups C to F!

This has satisfied Deportivo La Coruna, Juventus, Manchester United and Real Madrid, while the remaining two teams in Pot 1, AC Milan and Lazio, are a little apprehensive, because Liverpool, the strongest of the teams in Pot 2, has not yet been drawn, and both teams will have a 50% chance of meeting Liverpool each.

The biggest concern is the Lazio team, who suffered a lot from Chen Xi in the League Cup last season, so they are all praying that God will not give Liverpool to them.

God seemed to have heard the prayers of the Blue Eagles, and the lottery drew a slip of paper with Celta's name written on it.

Lazio's coaches and officials even cheered directly, while the AC Milan camp not far away let out a sigh.

Benitez and Perry, who were next to Chen Xi, also sighed, obviously, in their opinion, Lazio is much better than AC Milan. The defending champion was drawn, and it can only be said that the Liverpool team has a point on its back.

Chen Xi is not as depressed as Benitez and Perry, on the contrary, he still has some faint excitement in his heart. Because he knows that the draw for AC Milan means a chance to play at the San Siro this season. It was a top stadium in Europe, and the thought of playing there and conquering the fans there made Chen Xi's blood boil.

After the dust settled on the grouping of the first two teams, the best midfielder in Europe was won by Juventus' Czech Nedved. Although he missed the final due to suspension, his previous performance was definitely decided, and it can be said that without him, Juventus would not have reached the final. At the same time, Juve's defeat in the final can be regarded as a side reflection of Nedved's important surname.

For this award, Chen Xi is a little helpless, it stands to reason that he is the best midfielder in the European competition last season, but the level of the League Cup he participated in is a little low, and the awards of the League Cup are awarded after the final, and he will not get such a big scene as the UEFA draw ceremony. Therefore, even Chen Xi, who won last season's top scorer and best player in the final of last season's League Cup, cannot compete for these awards.

Chen Xi will participate in the Champions League this year, and he also secretly vowed in his heart that he must be on this podium as the "best" next year.

After that, the draw of the third pot team was also uneventful, and after the first seven teams were drawn, there was another burst of exclamations in the venue. The reason is simple, because Ajax, the strongest team in Pot 3, was left in the last group!

AC Milan, Liverpool and Ajax, these three teams alone are enough to turn this group into a group of death.

Benitez and Perry in the venue looked at each other and saw each other's helplessness in each other's eyes. The meaning is very simple, why is the character so bad?

Chen Xi also smiled helplessly, it seems that the team's luck in the draw is really not good.

The fourth-tier teams were not much of a concern, and in the end Bruce was placed in the Liverpool group.

In addition to this, a number of other awards were also announced. Ruud van Nistelrooy, the top scorer in the Champions League last season, became the best striker in Europe. Gianluigi Buffon was last season's Champions League player of the year!

AC Milan captain Maldini led the team to victory in the European Champions League, while also setting an unprecedented 17-year record of loyalty to AC Milan, and his record will continue. For these contributions, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Maldini became the first person in Europe to receive this honor.

After waiting for a long time, it was finally Chen Xi's turn.

"Next, we are going to present last season's European Golden Boot. Welcome to our award presenter, Portuguese legend Eusebio! Following the master of ceremonies' words, Eusebio, a black panther in a suit, came to the stage with a shiny golden sneaker.

'Last season, there were a lot of great goalscorers in European football. They have brought countless wonderful goals to the fans and win after victory for their own team. Among this group of excellent goalscorers, a young British-Chinese was born, as a full-back, he scored 36 goals in the league crazily, breaking the Premier League single-season goal record, his Premier League coefficient is 2, his points are 72, far ahead in the scorer standings, and deservedly became the winner of the European Golden Boot Award, he is ...... Edison ~~~~ Chen! After Eusebio's words. On the big screen at the venue, Chen Xi scored wonderful goals for Tottenham Hotspur in the league last season.

After that, there were also some comments from his friends, teammates and coaches.

"Edison was a miracle, he was a phenomenal figure. Becoming a European Golden Boot winner as a midfielder is absolutely incredible! Chen Xi's former teammate Robbie Keane said exaggerated in an interview.

"It's a great pleasure to be teammates with Edison, not only is he able to score goals on his own, but he also creates great opportunities for his teammates, and he is definitely one of the best teammates I've ever worked with!" Morientes, who was a teammate of Chen Xi at Tottenham last season, also expressed his appreciation for Chen Xi.

"I have to say that when you have a player like Edison, the job as a coach becomes very simple. I miss having him! Hoddle said with some sourness. Watching Benitez lead the Liverpool team with Chen Xi to be invincible in the Premier League this season, he felt very uncomfortable, and in his opinion, if the club can keep Chen Xi, he and his team can do the same.

"Last season was the best season of my career, but there's one guy who's done even better than me, and that's Edison." As last season's UEFA best striker, Vanney was also very depressed, he overpowered his old rival Thierry Henry in the league last season, but was trampled far behind by Chen Xi.

…… After this video was played, Chen Xi, who was wearing a handsome dark suit, also appeared on the podium.

After receiving the European Golden Boot from Eusebio and giving the Portuguese a hug, Chen Xi stood in front of the microphone with a smile and said his acceptance speech: "I am very happy to be able to stand here to receive this award, this is the first major award in my career, and I will keep this trophy in my room." This award is a recognition of my performance last season and I will use it to push myself to work harder in the new season. I hope that when I come back here next year, I can win more awards! ”

Chen Xi's speech was not long, but he seemed very confident. The audience also gave their applause to Chen Xi, as Robbie Keane said, Chen Xi's performance last season was definitely a miracle. After all, there aren't many people who can score that many goals as midfielders.

The coaches of some of the big teams here are also very envious of Benitez, because he has such a young talent who can do everything in goals and assists. Many big clubs have also seen Liverpool as an important opponent this season and for some time to come.

After receiving the award, Chen Xi returned to his position with a smile.

"Edison, I'm sure you'll do even better this season! You'll be back here next year! Perry gave Chen Xi a hug and said.

"Thank you, Mr. Perry, in fact, I think so too. Ha ha! Chen Xi said with a confident smile.

Rafa Benitez didn't say anything, but his face was very excited, and he hoped to be on the UEFA awards stage next season. The best thing to do is to lead Liverpool to the Champions League, although it is very difficult!

Several awards were handed out: AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was named European coach of the year last season. The Fair Play Award was awarded to Tottenham.

At the ceremony, UEFA also presented a number of special awards: Portuguese star Figo won the award for the best goal for his stunning goal in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final clash with Manchester United; Former Lazio Dutch midfielder Wintere was honoured with a special tribute for his efforts to combat racism.

After that, the ceremony, which lasted for more than an hour, finally came to an end.

(To be continued)