In people's impression, the president of UEFA, the Frenchman Platini, has always had a tendency to rob the rich and help the poor and suppress the Premier League. This season's Champions League quarter-final draw has seen a repeat of this trend. The Champions League in 11-12 was a tragic year for the Premier League, with Manchester United and Manchester City failing to qualify for the round of 16, with only two English teams, Arsenal and Chelsea, being rare in the round of 16. It is said that the gun is the first bird, and the Premier League's achievements in European competitions, especially the Champions League, have been too outstanding in recent years.

"Three England vs. Lu Bu" has become a unique landscape in the Champions League in recent years. In the 06-07 season, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea formed a siege against AC Milan; In the 07-08 season, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United besieged Barcelona; In the 08-09 season, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal surrounded Barcelona. Arsenal have also defended their Champions League title in the past two seasons, with other Premier League sides guaranteed to reach the semi-finals.

The Premier League's dominance for three consecutive seasons has put UEFA in danger, and Platini believes that the healthy development of the Champions League is not spring. Therefore, UEFA will adopt a series of measures to avoid the Premier League dominating the economy and commercial operations.

The draw ceremony for the quarterfinals of the 11-12 Champions League was held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and Xiao Qing and his teammates were also ready, knowing that this draw may be a lot of challenges and surprises for Arsenal; But Arsenal's players never expected that UEFA's coincidence would reach its climax in this draw, as Arsenal met a strong opponent from the group stage and entered the knockout round. Arsenal are now facing more challenges. Now it looks like it's completely encircling Arsenal!

UEFA Secretary-General Gianni Infantino opened the room as the moderator. UEFA then broadcast highlights of the 16 teams in the Champions League group stage this season, with Bayern, Inter, Benfica, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Apol, and Barcelona being the top of the eight groups; Napoli, CSKA Moscow, Basel, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Zenit and AC Milan qualified as second.

The first to be drawn were Lyon, where they met Cypriot side Apol. It was a surprise that the French team Lyon drew Apol, the weakest team in the first gear, at the beginning. Platini's hometown team is really lucky, although Lyon's strength is still good, but to be almost guaranteed to the quarterfinals, Lyon can laugh until his mouth cramps.

Hit the Premier League, this is a robbery of the rich. After all, compared to the other four major leagues. The Premier League is the worst of the best. But on the other hand, several small national league teams enjoy treatment that they almost never enjoy. UEFA's suppression of the Premier League, using Serie A to balance the Premier League, so as to "support" La Liga and Ligue 1 and other leagues is also what many people think of as a 'conspiracy theory', the confrontation between the Premier League and Serie A has been the mainstream of the Champions League knockout rounds in recent seasons, and in this season, this situation continues.

Since Platini took over, there has been a match between England and Italy in the round of 16 every year, with Serie A continuing its miserable draw luck, with Napoli meeting Chelsea and Milan meeting Arsenal. Once again, the Anglo-Italian collision since Platini came to power; Chelsea and Arsenal have met Napoli and Milan respectively, and Chelsea have had a lackluster season in tough conversations. As for the Gunners, it will not be an easy matter for them to qualify now, as they have met AC Milan, the strongest in recent years.

The ensuing process was uneventful, with Napoli meeting Chelsea; Napoli's strength can only be said to be relatively good, but among the teams that are second in the group, Napoli's strength can definitely be ranked in the upper echelons. They were lucky that at least Chelsea didn't meet AC Milan.

However, the Premier League and Serie A teams will soon have a head-to-head PK, Arsenal encountered the strongest group second AC Milan, and the situation of "Serie A containing the Premier League" happened again; Using Serie A to clamp down on the Premier League, UEFA's idea seems to be becoming clearer and clearer......

When Arsenal's knockout opponent was drawn, Xiao Qing even laughed; As the defending champions, Xiao Qing also knew that their Champions League match this season would definitely not be easy, but Xiao Qing never thought that from the beginning of the Champions League game, Arsenal has always been in the worst environment that can be seen, and their opponents are always the strongest opponents in that stage.

Xiao Qing knows that it is not a simple matter for the team to succeed in defending the title, and he also knows that Arsenal has become the target of public criticism; Arsenal's excellent record in the past two seasons has really made other teams feel hopeless, and UEFA obviously doesn't like to see Arsenal maintain a strong dominance in the Champions League. So if Arsenal want to win three in a row, then they will have to face more difficulties, and Arsenal is like that now, they will always meet the strongest opponents.

Despite finishing first in the Champions League group stage, Arsenal failed to draw a single draw in the quarter-finals, and AC Milan, the strongest team in the group, were second in the group. The 2006-07 season was the only Champions League in recent years in which Arsenal did not face a big opponent, and the opponent was PSV Eindhoven. Throughout the last seven seasons of the Champions League knockout rounds, Arsenal has played against almost all the giants, they always meet the strongest opponents in the knockout stage, and even if they are not giants, the opponents are quasi-first-class powerhouses such as Roma, Porto, Villarreal and PSV Eindhoven, and none of them are easy to pass.

Milan was drawn again this season, and the Gunners still can't escape the draw doom, and Arsenal have had bad luck in the draw for several years in a row. Meeting in the quarter-finals, the two teams repeated the 2007-08 feud that they met.

Among the unseeded teams in the Champions League, the strongest is undoubtedly AC Milan, and the most feared of the seeded teams, as a result Arsenal was "lucky" to meet the Rossoneri in the round of 16. As soon as the results of the lottery were announced, the media reached a consensus: the next sign! Whether it is for Arsenal or AC Milan, it is really not an easy matter for the two teams to win and advance in this round of matchups.

In the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 07-08 season, Arsenal eliminated AC Milan. But now, the Rossoneri will not let history repeat itself. Arsenal's weak backline and the lack of experience that inevitably lead to too many young players are two of Arsenal's fatal weaknesses.

AC Milan is in the process of changing between the old and the new, Ibrahimovic is the fulcrum of the front, Boateng is becoming more and more admirable, and Thiago Silva is also in the backline; As the reigning Serie A champions, AC Milan's squad has largely rebuilt from the ageing of three years ago. Encountering a strong, experienced and consistent AC Milan in the knockout rounds will probably require more effort for Arsene Wenger's disciples.

Lyon vs Apol; Napoli) vs Chelsea; AC Milan vs Arsenal; Basel v Bayern Munich; Bayer Leverkusen vs Barcelona; CSKA Moscow vs Real Madrid; Zenit vs Benfica; Marseille vs Inter Milan. After the eight groups of opponents are grouped, some people are naturally happy and some are worried about such a draw.

Although Arsenal's players are very unhappy with the current draw, but their opponents have been decided, Arsenal is not complaining now, although the strongest team in the second team in the group is a depressing thing, but what Arsenal needs more is a strong outbreak at this time, they need to beat AC Milan, so as to prove the strength of the team even more. Arsenal will certainly face a lot of challenges in the process of completing the Champions League three in a row, and what Arsenal need to do is to beat all opponents with better performances in the game.

Now they will meet AC Milan, maybe in the next game Arsenal may also meet Bayern, Barcelona and Chelsea such giants, Arsenal can not hope to meet weak opponents all the time, if you want to win the title, it is more about strength. Arsenal now have a good chance to challenge, they will continue to show enough strength in the Champions League, they will use more outstanding performances in the Champions League to prove that some intrigues are useless, only strength is the most important thing, is the most important thing for the team to win the title.

Arsenal have achieved great results over the past two seasons, although they know that it takes a bit of luck not only to be a team that can win the Champions League. The Arsenal players really don't care about this, because they believe that the team is not only good, but even if Arsenal has encountered a lot of challenges and difficulties in the process of winning the title, they can still achieve the final victory and championship!

The Arsenal players are ready, now they don't care which team they face, the current Gunners need to play every game in a down-to-earth manner; While it will be a tough game against AC Milan, what Arsenal need now is more to prepare for the upcoming clash with Manchester City in the league. Manchester City are not an easy opponent and Arsenal need to take some initiative in the league and they need to lay some solid foundation ahead of the Champions League knockout rounds.

Arsenal fights on multiple fronts, and they have to ensure that the league and the Champions League go hand in hand, so in the absence of the Champions League knockout round, Arsenal needs to focus more on the league, and they do need to lay some foundation for the league to defend the title. (To be continued......)