Chapter 337: Knockout Draw

The Champions League group stage has come to an end, and there are really a few happy and a few sad. The development of the Champions League to this day is no longer a matter of honor, but every time one more round is played, there will be more bonuses and broadcast shares, and even those giants who are not short of money cannot deny that the Champions League is a huge cake.

But obviously, only the farther you go, the more you get a portion of the cake.

When it comes to the last few teams, UEFA's share of the prize money is tens of millions, not to mention other additional income and sponsorship fees.

Thirty-two teams from different European leagues are divided into eight groups, with only half of them progressing to the next round.

In Group A, the Red Devils Manchester United won four wins and two draws, accumulating 14 points to qualify for the first place in the group, followed by Bundesliga powerhouse Bayer Leverkusen with three wins, one draw and two losses and 10 points. Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, who finished first in the group last season with Juventus and Chelsea, failed this season, and unfortunately went to the camp of the League Cup with eight points. Real Sociedad from the Spanish First Division is at the bottom of the table with one point, unfortunately out, obviously they still have more face than Marseille, at least one point

In Group B, Real Madrid came out of the group with 16 points, and 20 group goals made them proud of the European giants and established themselves as irreplaceable hegemons. The Turkish Premier League's giants Galasatare stepped on the corpse of Li Zihan's former club with a one-point advantage, and Juventus, who has six points, can only play the League Cup, while Denmark's powerhouse Copenhagen has no extra thoughts in such a group, but if you can grab four points from these three teams, you can leave the European stage with your head held high.

In Group C, Grand Paris naturally locked the first place to qualify, and the statistics of 16 group goals also symbolize their unfamiliar offensive firepower. The second place to qualify was a more surprising surprise, as the Greek giants Olympiacos broke through from the encirclement of the other two European powerhouses. Although Olympiacos' status in the domestic league is giant, looking at the entire Champions League, they are actually only a little higher than the teams from the bottom few leagues that are not well-known. The Portuguese powerhouse, Benfica, who finished runners-up in last season's Europa League Cup (Europa League), had no choice but to continue to play in the UEFA Cup, which they often excel at, with a disadvantage of two goal differences. Belgian giants Anderlecht are bottom of the table, with Belgians thriving in Europe's top five leagues, but their clubs still lack some place in Europe.

In Group D, last season's champion Bayern Munich and Premier League oil tycoon Manchester City joined forces to qualify, both teams have 15 points, but the goal difference of "Cosmic Ren" is four more than that of Blue Moon. It's just that Manchester City, who scored 18 goals in the group, is the team with the most goals except Real Madrid, and Bayern with 17 goals is still behind them, but the rate of 10 goals is enough to make them "proud" among the many giants in the Champions League, and only those small teams in the small leagues have conceded more goals than them. Russia's powerhouse CSKA went to play the League Cup, and Plzen was unsurprisingly knocked out of the tournament at the bottom of the tournament.

In Group E, Chelsea and Bundesliga powerhouse Schalke qualified from the fourth, Basel was relegated to the UEFA Cup, and Buggart Star was out. This result is not surprising, but it is the most surprising thing that almost Basel dismissed Schalke, and Schalke is also angry after the most difficult and reversed the situation himself.

Group F, the group of death, needless to say, is the group that the media and fans pay the most attention to, because it is the most frequent of the eight groups. Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal managed to break away from Napoli's encirclement, and Napoli, who set 12 points in Champions League history but failed to get out of the record line, went to the UEFA Cup in pain, and Marseille in Ligue 1, who did not score four goals and conceded 14 goals, became the biggest joke in this group.

In Group G, Atletico Madrid, which scored 15 goals and conceded three goals to grab 16 points, won the first place, followed by Zenit, and the Portuguese Super League giants Porto were robbed of the Champions League ticket by Zenit St. Petersburg and could only play the League Cup.

In Group H, Barcelona also qualified without any suspense. It was followed by AC Milan, the only remaining member of Serie A, while the former Champions League treble champion Eredivisie giants Ajax continued to fall and went to the League Cup. They were able to qualify with Barcelona last season, but this season they will have to go home with a regret.

The day after the qualifying list of all groups was released, that is, at about 9:30 p.m. Beijing time on December 17, UEFA broadcast the draw ceremony for the knockout round of the Champions League for the new season live at its headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Because of the regular schedule, many of the team's head coaches did not go in person, but the club's general manager or other important staff members attended.

Considering the recent tight game, there is another draw today, so the Arsenal club did not train as usual, but had a half-day holiday in the morning, and went to the team conference room to watch the live broadcast of the draw after lunch.

Before the draw, the head coaches and core players of each team were naturally indispensable to be interviewed by the media, when the reporter asked Li Zihan who he hoped to meet in the first round of the knockout round, Li Zihan originally wanted to say that as long as he did not meet the "Western Super League Twins", "Bundesliga giants" and "Ligue 1 Paris", the rest are fine, and it is best to meet teams like Olympiacos.

But this is not possible, according to UEFA rules, Arsenal are second in the group and can only go to the team that wins the other groups and is not England.

But think about it carefully, except for Arsenal's own group, the first of the eight groups is Li Zihan's appeal in addition to the Premier League team, the only exception is Atletico Madrid, but this season's Atletico Madrid is not a conventional Atletico Madrid, this season's performance of Atletico Madrid has been the same as the performance of the Western Super League, and even has the title of the three Western Super League.

Li Zihan frowned, and said with a heart: "No matter who we meet, we are very confident. Our ultimate goal is to move forward one step at a time, no matter who stands in our way. And since we can all come out of such a group this season, I think we should go further, there is a proverb in our country, first bitter and then sweet! ”

But at this moment, Li Zihan was still a little nervous watching the live TV.

But when he saw the famous Portuguese star Figo pull out the note with Arsenal's name written on it, he almost smashed the quilt in his hand.

On the other side of the TV, Figo smiled and took out a small ball from the many small balls in the transparent vessel, and then said to the camera: "Let's take a look at who the defending champion Bayern Munich will meet in the quarterfinals, oh it should be whose luck is so bad, as soon as it comes out, it will meet the defending champion." ”

The reporters in the audience and the staff of the major clubs laughed in a friendly and somewhat sly manner, only the second place in the group except for the Bundesliga did not look good, and of course the second group that had already been drawn by lot was gloating.

Opening the small black and white football in his hand, Figo took out a white note inside, first glanced at the note, and then looked around the staff of the major clubs sitting opposite, and finally fell on the table with the name "Arsenal" written on it.

Ivan Gazidis, the club's general manager, who was present on behalf of Arsenal, chuckled in his heart, wondering if he was the unlucky man, right?

Obviously, no one wants to provoke Bayern Munich at a time when they are in the limelight. Last season, Bayern won the treble, and although the new season has gone striker Mario Gomez, Bayern's strength has not declined, but the new coach has become more and more domineering under the tutelage of the legendary Guardiola.

Figo smiled, pointed the front of the note at the camera and all the guests at the scene, and said, "A-Senna." ”

Ivan Gazidis tried his best to calm his "excited" mood and make himself look normal, but how could his helpless eyes escape the capture of the camera.

"Crab!!" Wilshere saw this scene in the team conference room and couldn't help but curse.

Wenger, who was on the podium, looked at him with a frown.

The 'little threat' immediately didn't have a 'threat', and lowered his head and whispered sorry.

Wenger didn't look at the rest of the draw either, but turned his head to look at the dejected disciples.

"It's not a good sign, obviously. But we can't give up in advance just because the opponent is Bayern Munich, this is not Arsenal's tradition, Arsenal's tradition is that no matter who the opponent is, you must show your strength and fighting spirit to win everything and not be eliminated from the championship! After a pause and a bunch of morale-boosting remarks, Wenger continued: "I don't think there's anything happier than coming out of this group and then beating the mighty Bayern Munich to qualify for the next round. ”

As soon as Wenger's voice fell, Vermaelen, as the captain, also stood up and encouraged his teammates: "The professor is right, think about it, everyone is not optimistic about us, but I suddenly killed the powerful Cosmos team, I think those. Ziyang's expression must be wonderful."

Following the words of Arsene Wenger and Vermaelen, the players made up their minds and felt that it was indeed a very exciting and exciting thing.