Chapter 13 Champions League Grouping

In the third round of Serie A, the poor form of Digan and Fiorentina seems to continue, facing the former team of Maradona away from Napoli, in the first half of the game, Fiorentina scored first, but it was not Digan who scored, but Cavinaghi who received a cross from Pasquale and headed it to help the team take the lead.

The score of 1:0 continued until the 79th minute of the second half, seeing that Fiorentina could pocket the victory of this game, but in the last ten minutes, the form of the field changed abruptly, Napoli's number one star Ravic kicked his head and scored two goals in a row to help Napoli overtake the score.

If it weren't for Cannavaro's own goal at the end of the day, Fiorentina would have lost two in a row at the start of the league season.

In this game, Degan's poor form continued, although there were a few chances in the whole game, but the kick at the goal was outrageous, and his contribution to the team was basically zero.

After the game, the major media also rushed to report, and the general tone was that Degan was in big trouble, scoring six goals in the first round of the Italian Super Cup and Serie A, and Degan overdrew all his good luck prematurely.

In this regard, Degan rarely remained silent, which made those media who looked at Digan unhappy, and the two media outlets, "Milan Sports Newspaper" and "Turin Post", even lashed out at Dugan at length, according to them, Degan will be sorry for everyone in the world if he does not retire immediately and get out of the football field.

Everyone expected that Deegan would be furious, but surprisingly, this time Deegan was unusually quiet, and after the game, Prandelli and Deegan boarded a plane to Zurich, Switzerland, to participate in the Champions League group draw.

Like the results of previous draws, this season's Champions League grouping is still full of stories, grievances, and exciting plots.

Group A: Chelsea, Roma, Club Brugge, Bordeaux.

After the draw was announced, Chelsea were quickly favoured by the major European bookmakers, in addition to the strength of the group, and although Roma have the ability to challenge Chelsea, they have been at the bottom of the game against Manchester United in recent seasons and look like they have not yet found a way to deal with Premier League sides.

Blanco's Bordeaux are a spoiler side and despite finishing runners-up in Ligue 1 last season, they have to admit they seem to lack anything at this level of the Champions League, with the team's most famous player being Gourcuff on loan from AC Milan, but it is difficult to pose a real threat to Chelsea, and the rational goal should be to compete with Roma for another qualifying spot.

As for the last team, Club Brugge, everyone knows that they are bastards, and the most practical idea is to try to finish third in the group and then move on to the UEFA Cup after the group stage.

Group B: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Anassosius.

There is no doubt that Inter Milan has drawn another good signing, in addition to Werder Bremen in this group, the remaining Panathinaikos and Anasosis are too weak, Mourinho's team may lock up the right to qualify early, but at the same time beware of Werder Bremen from the Bundesliga, this team in the Champions League, after several years of training, has accumulated considerable experience, but in general Inter Milan should not have any problems qualifying from the group.

Group C: Barcelona, Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon.

The situation in this group is similar to Group B, and even Barcelona is better than Inter Milan, whether it is Sporting Lisbon, Basel or Shakhtar Donetsk, there is a big gap with Barcelona in terms of strength and experience.

Barcelona need to note that it may be winter to play in Ukraine, and fighting in a hostile environment is not what a team like Barcelona that pays attention to ground coordination is good at. In addition, their battle with Basel was also interesting because of the founder of Barcelona, Joan . Gamble is a Basel fan, and the jerseys of the two teams are practically identical in style and colour.

Group D: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atletico Madrid.

The situation is less clear in this group, which in a sense is the most confusing form of qualification, with Liverpool undoubtedly the favourites, but the other three teams are close in quality and anything could happen.

Judging from the history of the encounter, Liverpool seems to have a certain advantage, in the past three years, Liverpool and Eindhoven have played four times, Liverpool has a clear advantage of 3 wins and 1 draw, the key game of last season's group qualification, they swept Marseille 4:0 away, but it is worth mentioning that Liverpool has also lost to Marseille at home, resulting in a life-and-death situation in the final round of qualification, so whether the group can appear depends on the competition with the third place in Ligue 1 Marseille and the fourth place in La Liga Atletico Madrid.

The style of these two teams is not the team that Benitez "likes", and from the analysis of Liverpool's strength and state, Liverpool has more advantages when considering comprehensive factors such as experience.

Rafael Benitez has previously said that the focus will be on the Premier League this season, but he can't afford to be sloppy in the face of such a grouping situation. It is also worth noting that Liverpool's match with Atletico Madrid will be a direct confrontation between Torres and Aguero, two generations of golden boys of the "Sheets Army".

After the draw for this year's Champions League was announced, there was no clear group of death, and the strength of each group was relatively even. However, Liverpool's luck is not good, Liverpool are in the same group as PSV Eindhoven, Marseille and Atletico Madrid, a result that makes the Reds very cautious, and it is not easy for anyone who wins with the four teams, and it is not easy for anyone who wants to eat whom.

After the draw ceremony, head coach Benitez said in an interview that none of the three opponents in the group was difficult to play: "Several teams are very close, so it is impossible to say which one is particularly challenging, in other words, there is no one that can be easily faced, all we have to do is be careful!" ”

To some extent, this kind of grouping is more serious than being in the same group as a giant, but there is also a "fish belly" in the group that can be won with relative ease.

The proximity of strength means that every game is a tough battle that must be fought hard with all its might, which means that there is no room for tight adjustment in the rhythm, and if there is a slight slip-up, Liverpool is likely to fall into a precarious situation to qualify as they did last year.

Liverpool's thrilling elimination of Belgium's Standard Liege in the Champions League qualifying round, coupled with the first two rounds of the Premier League, exposed that the Reds' recent situation is not ideal, especially after breaking Torres and Gerrard's frontcourt system, the team's offensive efficiency is not as good as before, for Benitez, the grouping has become an established fact, and the next thing to do is to adjust their own state and straighten out the Reds as a whole.

Group E: Manchester United, Villarreal, Aalborg, Celtic.

Compared to Liverpool's grouping, Manchester United's Group E is much more prosaic, although they drew La Liga runners-up Villarreal, who may not want to be touched, and the two teams are much higher than Celtic and Aalborg, and this grouping is a little more revenge for Manchester United.

In the 2005/2006 season, Manchester United were in a group with Villarreal, and the result was 0-0 in both games, and Wayne Rooney was also sent off with a red card. However, this is no longer the case, and this time Manchester United, aiming to win the title, should not capsize in the gutter again.

Group F: Fiorentina, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Bucharest Stars.

This is the second "Group of Death" in addition to Group D, with Lyon, Bayern Munich and Fiorentina not much different in overall strength, except for the slightly weaker Bucharest Star.

Defending champions Fiorentina captain Digan was pleased with the draw in a subsequent interview and was looking forward to the group top spot clash with Bayern Munich.

"Overall, I'm happy with the draw and as the defending champions we're looking forward to the start of the tournament. Bayern Munich is a very favourable opponent and I'm looking forward to it being a good matchup. ”

As for the other two opponents in the group, Degan doesn't care about it at all, whether it is the Soviet Super League hegemon Celtic or the old European powerhouse Bucharest Star, if they want to challenge Fiorentina, they are still far away.

Group G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kyiv.

Arsenal seem to be in an easy group, but in fact, Arsenal and Porto have played each other in the 2006/2007 season, drawing away and winning, facing Fenerbahce who broke into the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup last season, also drew 0:0 away and won 2:0 at home, and against Dynamo Kyiv, Arsenal has painful memories, and has twice gone to Ukraine and failed.

Fenerbahce is dominated by a group of Brazilian players, who have a good record in Europe in the past two seasons, and the atmosphere at the Devils' home stadium makes them a difficult team to play against. Porto and Kyiv have also accumulated a lot of European experience this year, and Arsenal will need to fight hard to get through.

Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St. Petersburg, Borissol.

Real Madrid and Juventus are a pair of rivals in the Champions League, and it seems dangerous for the two teams to be placed in Group H, but the remaining two teams, Zenit and Borisol, will have a certain degree of difficulty in shaking the two giants.

Among them, Real Madrid and Juventus' path to qualification depends more on the record of the same team as last season's League Cup champion Zenit, but the latter is in "turmoil", and the main Arshavin may leave the team in the final stage of the transfer.