The draw for the 2006/2007 UEFA Champions League group has begun.

In this season's Champions League, there are a total of 4 teams in the Premier League who have entered the group stage, namely Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. After being eliminated from Serie A at Chievo, only Inter Milan, Roma and AC Milan made it to the group stage. There are also only 3 teams in La Liga, which are Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia. Bayern Munich, Hamburg and Bremen in the Bundesliga, as well as Lyon, Bordeaux and Lille in Ligue 1, made it to the group stage.

The draw rules have not changed the same, the 32 teams are still divided into four brackets, with teams in each group one bracket, and as Chelsea only reached the round of 16 last season and failed to go further, there is still a gap between Chelsea's all-time Champions League points and the first bracket of teams, and they can only be placed in the second bracket.

The first to be drawn was Barcelona, who were placed in the first group.

The next few guests were drawn for each of the first teams, and then the host began to announce the awards, and sure enough, Terry did not win the best defender, he only won the third place in the nomination, and the best defender belonged to AC Milan's Nesta.

Then the second round of the draw began.

Nesta stepped forward to help draw a second-tier team in Group A, he stood on the stage, solemnly put his hand into the draw, took out a piece of paper from it, he glanced at it, and then unfolded it in front of the audience.

I saw a name written on the paper - Chelsea (Chelsea)!

There was an uproar at the scene!

No one expected Nesta to draw Chelsea, there are eight teams in the second tier, and the luck of being drawn directly is really a little small, but Chelsea was drawn, the key is that the corresponding group A is ...... Barcelona.

Barcelona and Chelsea are not teams in the same league and can naturally collide in the same group. But this result Chelsea everyone can only smile bitterly.

Barcelona and Chelsea always have a story to tell.

This is the third season in a row against Barcelona, the first time Jose Mourinho's Chelsea won against Barcelona, the second time Mourinho's Chelsea lost to Barcelona, and now the third time, Chelsea's manager has become Grant. So who wins and who loses when the two teams play each other?

Many people at the venue looked at Barcelona and Chelsea, and Zhang Tiehan and his party immediately became the protagonists.

Grant smiled wryly.

Frank Lampard and John Terry smiled wryly, and only Zhang Tiehan shrugged his shoulders indifferently, he didn't care about Barcelona, and Zhang Tiehan was very happy to hear the name of this opponent.

That's Barcelona!

Liverpool defeated Barcelona last season, but the game process was also very difficult, Zhang Tiehan worked hard twice, and his personal performance was extreme to let Liverpool win Barcelona to watch. There is also a lot of luck in it, and Barcelona will obviously be stronger this season, which is what the media says and is recognized by Europe.

It's not that Barcelona added any stars in the summer, in fact, Barcelona only spent 31 million euros in the summer to buy a few stars, including Icelandic striker Gudjohnsson, who moved from Chelsea, and considering that Barcelona sold Larsson. In reality, Barcelona's forward line has not strengthened much.

Their backline has been strengthened.

The biggest time of summer is the 'phonegate' in Italy. As the most important protagonist, Juventus was punished very harshly, so many of their players had to find another club, Barcelona packed two central defenders Zambrotta and Turamo from Juventus, who were worth 14 million euros and 5 million euros respectively.

The deal was a big lucrative.

Two world-class centre-backs cost only €19 million, which is too cheap. In fact, if it were a normal deal, Zambrotta's value would be much worse than Shepchenko's, and Thuram would be a little worse, but not much worse either. Why can't you get 10 million euros, but the two of them together are only 1,900 euros, and compared with the cost of Chelsea to buy Shepchenko, these two are no different from giving away for nothing.

The arrival of the duo also strengthened Barcelona's defence.

These three are also all the actions of Barcelona in the summer, and the rest are all for the sale of their own players, which shows that Barcelona's actual star squad has not been strengthened, but their strength lies in the whole, in the integration of the entire team by head coach Rijkaard, and the cultivation of stars in their own academy.

With Rijkaard in charge of Barcelona, the team is now almost perfect.

In terms of midfield, the young Messi is the most eye-catching, he is Barcelona's own star, although he has not transferred, but "French football" has a valuation of Messi worth 40 million euros, he is Ronaldinho's best replacement, the midfield has Ronaldinho and Messi to drive the operation of the whole team, coupled with the overall world's first technical flow football, Barcelona this season is definitely a terrible opponent.

Being in the same group as such a team would have all but a wry smile for Chelsea.

Next, the group draw continued, and Zhang Tiehan was related to him won the award for the best striker, there was no suspense at all when this award fell on his head, the host did not even pause to directly announce that Zhang Tiehan was the best striker, he was the best player in Liverpool's championship table, he was also the top scorer in the Champions League, and even scored seven goals more than the second place Shepchenko, so if Xiàn could not get the top scorer, UEFA estimated that it would receive more than 10,000 letters of protest.

After a lot drawing, each group was finally decided.

Group A: Barcelona (Spain), Chelsea (England), Bremen (Germany), Lewski Sofia (Bulgaria);

Group B: Inter Milan (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Spartak Moscow (Russia);

Group C: Liverpool (England), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Bordeaux (France), Galatasaray (Turkey);

Group D: Valencia (Spain), Roma (Italy), Olympiacos (Greece), Shakhta Donetsk (Ukraine);

Group E: Real Madrid (Spain), Lyon (France), Bucharest (Romania), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine);

Group F: Manchester United (England), Celtic (Scotland), Benfica (Portugal), FC Copenhagen (Denmark);

Group G: Arsenal (England), Porto (Portugal), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Hamburg (Germany);

Group H: AC Milan (Italy), Lille (France), AEK Athens (Greece), Anderlecht (Belgium).

……

After the Champions League draw, the Chelsea group returned to London, where the team was disbanded after a day of training and a ten-day holiday.

These ten days are national match days.

On September 1, Zhang Tiehan had already gone to the national team to report and experienced an ordinary warm-up match. England's opponent was Greece, and the game went on normally, with Zhang Tiehan scoring a goal and being substituted at half-time.

Then there is a general training session that lasts two days.

On the third day, Zhang Tiehan returned to London, and from this day to the seventh day, the four days were free holidays. He can take Lola around London and get acquainted with the city's surroundings.

However, Zhang Tiehan did not do this, taking advantage of the holiday time, he and Lola were already preparing for the wedding, and the date had been set, which was in January after Christmas, although there were still five months to go, but now it is ready to start.

In terms of chores, he has his cousin and Camille's team to help, so naturally he doesn't have to worry too much. The only thing he worries about is what friends he wants to invite or something, and meeting Lola's parents.

Zhang Tiehan has never seen Lola's parents, and he is still a little timid when he rashly mentions meeting Lola's parents, after all, they are all with other people's daughters, and they haven't even seen their parents, which is a bit unreasonable in China, but Zhang Tiehan didn't think much about it. It was just an inherent idea on his part, after all, this was London, England. It's Europe, in the eyes of people in Western countries, he has a relationship with Lola, and he has nothing to do with Lola's parents, the freedom to love is not talkative, and Lola's parents have no right to object. Of course, they actually don't object, it's not that Zhang Tiehan is good and rich, it has nothing to do with these, in fact. Jiang Chen knew Lola's parents, and Zhang Tiehan and Lola had been together for so long, and Zhang Tiehan himself had a big name, so Lola often appeared in the newspaper, and it was impossible for her parents not to know.

The two went together to meet Lola's parents.

Lola's mother is French, named Jolip, is a rather romantic woman, she has a good relationship with Jiang Chen, the two can talk together, her father is British, very old-fashioned British, Zhang Tiehan knew it as soon as he saw it, this middle-aged man had a rigid face, as if someone owed him a lot of money.

Fortunately, the attitude of the two towards Zhang Tiehan is not bad.

Hearing that they were going to have a wedding after Christmas, Jolip also gave Lola a bracelet, "This is your grandmother's hand-down, and when your daughter gets married, I will give it to her in the future." ”

Zhang Tiehan rolled his eyes when he heard this.

It's a family heirloom, but it's too early to say that...... Speaking of which, he is not ready to be a father.

But after listening to Jolip's words, Zhang Tiehan suddenly wanted to have a child with Lola, it would be the crystallization of their love, right?

He had an idea.

So this night, he and Lola didn't do anything safe.

……

After the holiday, Zhang Tiehan returned to the team to continue training.

Chelsea's training was still a bit terrible, and Grant's continued implementation of new formations was ineffective, and in the end Grant had to try to use the injured Arjen Robben and Wright-Phillips as wing-backs, Frank Lampard and Zhang Tiehan in midfield, and Shepchenko and Drogba up front.

The front court of this 442 formation only played some rules.

But the only problem is that without Ballack and Essien, which must be taken into account, and if Ballack and Essien are not played, then they will almost have to compete with Frank Lampard for a spot, which will be quite cruel.

Grant has to think about that.

Ballack and Essien are both quite strong, they didn't come to Chelsea to play as substitutes, without two of them, he couldn't hold it down, and if he loses the game, the media will definitely put the blame on him.

"Why don't you send Barak out?"

"Where's Essien?"

And even ...... "What about Makelele?" ”

Wright Phillips can not play, Shepchenko and Drogba can also not play, and even Robben and Joe Cole are not so important in the team, but Grant must free up two places for midfield. The problem now is that Zhang Tiehan occupies a position, so it is a bit confusing.

It's not just Zhang Tiehan's problem, even if there is no Zhang Tiehan, Lampard's partnership with Essien or Ballack can't play much strength at all, all three are world-class midfielders, but no matter how the three are combined, it is difficult to play, which is what makes Grant the most helpless, otherwise he can directly put Zhang Tiehan on the forward line, and he doesn't need to put it in the midfield at all.

After some consideration, Grant came to a strategy - the value strategy.

As the head coach, he is not the most important person in the team, obviously he can't hold down many stars in the team, when these stars are in good shape, he can't let them play, but as long as the game is playing, there are too many stars in the team, there are always those who don't play, he can only think of 'value strategy'.

He listed the players who must play if they are fit – John Terry, Zhang Tiehan, Frank Lampard.

These are the three most important players in the team and the players who have to play. Frank Lampard is a key player for Chelsea and has always been in good form and in the game. John Terry is at the heart of the defence, captain of Chelsea and has to play when he can; Zhang Tiehan is the most valuable player in the team and the player with the strongest individual ability, and he can show him well no matter what position he puts in.

Among the three players, there is also a distinction between primary and secondary.

John Terry is a centre-back, Grant is not worried about the competition for centre-backs, and in fact, among the stars of Chelsea's squad, there is no need to worry about the line-up of defenders, so Terry doesn't need to think about it.

Zhang Tiehan and Lampard are put together, obviously Zhang Tiehan is more important, although Lampard has been in the team for a longer time, but Zhang Tiehan is extremely valuable, and he is the top player in the world, to make a hypothesis, if Abramovich chooses Zhang Tiehan or Lampard, the Russians will definitely choose Zhang Tiehan.

The question is for the Blues fans?

I'm afraid most fans will still choose Zhang Tiehan, because they know that way the team can be stronger, and only a few die-hard Lampard fans will choose Lampard.

Therefore, Zhang Tiehan is more important than Lampard, and the team wants to play stronger, Zhang Tiehan as the core is obviously more effective than Lampard.

Zhang Tiehan has a core position.

Frank Lampard can play alongside Essien, Ballack and Claude Makelele, but he also has a position, his place on the wing, if he plays in a 442 formation, he will definitely have a place, but what if it is 4231? Arjen Robben and Wright-Phillips would be more suited as wing-backs, allowing Lampard to drop back to a central midfield position and also free up two central midfield positions for the likes of Ballack.

The key is to get the team to adapt to 4231.

As for the front, Grant doesn't think about it, neither Shepchenko, Drogba nor Kalou are players who have to play, they are just foils to the formation.

Considering that there will be at least three fronts this season, and that others will have a chance to rotate out, Grant is relieved and begins to let the team adapt to the 4231 formation. (To be continued......)