Chapter 97: The Champions League Draw
After the match against Roma, Digan flew to Zurich with Prandelli to attend the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals.
On occasions like this, Deegan was originally very disgusted, flaunting a fair game, but in fact it was just a competition of interests behind it, the group stage was like this, and the same was true for the knockout round, what the draw was for, but it was just to artificially create some plots and then attract more audiences.
The development of things is the same as Degan thought, the first thing to be brought together is just an appetizer, which can be regarded as finding a step for fair play, Schalke 04 vs. Porto, the two teams have no story, it can be regarded as a foreshadowing of the next plot.
Next is interesting Roma vs Real Madrid, in the group stage, Real Madrid met a team from Rome, two legs, one win and one draw, and finally Lazio failed to qualify from the group, so they could only play the League Cup, and now UEFA has drawn Roma and Real Madrid together.
Was it for Rome to avenge Lazio?
Obviously not, doing so is nothing more than escorting Real Madrid.
After all, Real Madrid is recognized as the greatest club of the 20th century, and its influence on UEFA, who can compare to Real Madrid among the giants of Europe.
However, in recent seasons, Real Madrid's European results are really flattering, Calderón needs to fight for capital for the re-election of Real Madrid president, and UEFA also needs to maintain a good relationship with Real Madrid, so Roma, which is not a giant, can only be regarded as a victim.
After the results came out, you could see the expressions of the managers of the two teams, Schuster had a relaxed face and a smile on his lips, and what about Spalletti? His face was pale, and it was obvious that he also knew that Roma was plotted by UEFA.
The next opponents are back to the theme of fair play, Olympiacos and Chelsea, two teams who have never met in European competition before, and Grant was very happy with the result, with the small Greek league giants clearly not enough to pose any threat to Chelsea's Ruble Army.
What's next?
Liverpool and Inter Milan, these two teams can be regarded as old enemies, when Inter Milan won the Champions League trophy for the first time, it was a reversal of Liverpool, but after so many years, the two teams rarely have the opportunity to play each other, and now the old enemies are reunited, who can laugh Zuihou?
From the perspective of overall strength, Inter Milan is definitely stronger than Liverpool, but in terms of the ability of the managers of the two teams, people are obviously more optimistic about the scheming Benitez, as for Mancini, this guy is an idol in the coaching world.
Moratti laughed happily, but I don't know if Boss Moratti will be able to laugh after the two rounds.
Benitez bowed his head and fell into contemplation, he is no stranger to the opponent of Inter Milan, although he has not played directly, but last season, it was Valencia that he once coached to kill Inter Milan in the knockout round, and Benitez can also get a lot of information from his former disciples on how to deal with Inter Milan.
Moreover, Benitez's Liverpool is best at defending and counterattacking, while Mancini's Inter Milan is not good at dealing with defensive teams, not to mention opponents of Liverpool's level, even in the league, once the opponent is desperately defending, Inter Milan has no choice but to rely on the free play of stars.
Who is Inter Milan's most important attacking weapon?
There is no doubt that it is Ibrahimovic, but the performance of the Swedes in the Champions League has not been satisfactory, if Ibrahimovic in Serie A is Lu Fengxian, then on the European battlefield, he is at most Hou Cheng's level, he has a certain combat effectiveness, it is okay to kill passers-by, once he meets a real big blood cow, it will be finished immediately.
The next group of opponents will be intriguing, with Arsenal and AC Milan, rivals in the 2005/2006 Champions League final, meeting again.
In the original final, almost all shijie people were optimistic that Wenger would lead the team to win the Champions League for the first time, but the final result was beyond everyone's expectations, and only one person was achieved in that game, that is, Degan, three goals, AC Milan disappointed Wenger's team again, and directly led to Henry's switch to Barcelona.
However, feng shui takes turns, and the current Arsenal is obviously not the original team, although Henry has gone, but the newly rising Van Persie, Flamini, Fabregas and other young players have made Arsenal's combat effectiveness directly on a new level.
But the strength of AC Milan is not advancing but retreating, those players in the final at the beginning, not much has changed, but the age and state have changed, and there is that the current AC Milan does not have the Deegan who was able to attack the city for them.
However, Ancelotti still looked very confident and seemed very satisfied with the result, and said in a subsequent interview: "Arsenal are a good opponent, they are very strong, but we have a way to deal with them, there is nothing to worry about, AC Milan's goal this season is still to defend the Champions League trophy!" ”
Carlo Ancelotti's self-confidence is haode, but unfortunately people are not optimistic about the current AC Milan team full of injured soldiers and poor form, perhaps their only chance to win is to count on Kaka to be as powerful as last year, and lead AC Milan forward by himself.
Arsene Wenger was also pleased with the result, although everyone knows how Arsenal and AC Milan met together: "It's a good result to be together with AC Milan again, we don't want to get revenge, we just want to play these two games, AC Milan are a strong team, they have a lot of European experience, in the game, we will do our best!" ”
European experience!?
If Real Madrid is a successful club in the 20th century, there is no doubt that at the beginning of the 21st century, AC Milan is the most successful club in Europe, winning the Champions League three times, which is enough to make them proud, but now Milan seems to have forgotten their honor and learned to sleep on the credit book.
Anyone can have this thing, but whether they have the ability to match it is a matter of opinion.
Going on to put Turkish giants Fenerbahce and last season's League Cup winners Sevilla together, these two teams are basically playing soy sauce, and no one will think that they will succeed in replicating the myth of Porto, at most, they can only play the role of spoilers.
Next is the duel between the two giant teams, Lyon PK Manchester United, but this giant duel has a lot of water, everyone knows that compared with the other four major European leagues, there is a big gap in the level, although Lyon has dominated the French league in France over the years, but the European results have not been ideal, and the group qualification is basically their limit.
Manchester United have basically locked up the league title this season, Lafayette is now dreaming of a treble again, according to the current strength of Manchester United, it does not seem very difficult to achieve this goal, even if there is nothing to do in the domestic cup competition, but in the Champions League, they are definitely capable of challenging for the title.
For Manchester United, Lyon may just be a training prop, and although it is a bit unfair to say so, it is true, and it is still too difficult for Ligue 1 teams to strive for top honours in European competitions.
This season, Manchester United's most surprising player is the Golden Mauro, this guy after the Shijie Cup failure, after the European Cup qualifiers, put all his energy into the club's competition, although not a traditional striker, but his number of goals this season is enough to be proud, the current league has more than a dozen rounds left, his number of goals has reached twenty-eight, perhaps after the end of this season, Degan won the European Golden Boot for four consecutive seasons, It will be broken by the Golden Maur.
The duel between Fiorentina and Barcelona will be seen in the round of 16, and the two teams have not historically had a deep hatred, but because of the presence of one person, this harmonious atmosphere has been shattered.
Degan!
In the 2005/2006 Champions League semi-finals, Barcelona won away from home, and the qualifying situation was a big situation, at the Camp Nou, he was attacked by Digan alone.
After that game, Barcelona manager Rijkaard almost resigned, and now Digan has led Fiorentina to Barcelona in the knockout rounds, and there is no doubt that this two-legged match will be the best time for Barcelona to get revenge.
And another highlight of this game is the duel between Digan and Messi, in the case of Ronaldinho was basically abandoned by Rijkaard, Messi became the new core of Barcelona, and the performance of the Argentines this season can definitely be described as amazing.
At the age of his early twenties, phenomenal performances, especially at the FIFA Awards ceremony held at the end of last year, he won the third place of Shijie Footballer of the Year, although it was only the third place, but the first time he was nominated, he was able to stand on the podium, and Messi was proud enough.
Analyzing the comparison of the strength of the two teams, almost no one is optimistic that Fiorentina, a young guard, can break through the Barcelona moat.