PS: This is today's first update, and the 50,000 recommended plus more will be sent again in the evening.

On the evening of August 31, after arranging for the players to rest, Zhuang Mingge and Capello rushed to the scene of the Champions League group draw ceremony.

"Isn't this Coach Alex Ferguson? Nice to see you here. As soon as he walked into the venue, Zhuang Mingge saw an old Scottish man with a red nose, and immediately stepped forward to talk to the other party.

This is also something that can't be helped, although Serie A has won three places this time due to the relationship between the defending champion Fiorentina, but the teams that won the second and third place in the league are AC Milan and Juventus, and the representative of the Rossoneri to participate in the draw ceremony this time is Saki who has a "deep hatred" with Fiorentina, and its general manager Galliani was somehow unable to attend, Zhuang Mingge naturally will not run over to touch the mold of Sachi.

Not to mention Juventus, the Bianconeri themselves have a bad relationship with Fiorentina, and Lippi has fallen into an unstable position because of several losses to Fiorentina in the game, so naturally he will not have a good face for Fiorentina.

The two representatives of La Liga are Jesús Hill, the president of Atletico Madrid, and Luis Aragonés, the manager of Valencia (nicknamed "Zhisuo", the coach who later led the Spanish national team to win the European Cup), Zhuang Mingge has no friendship with these two, and the tough personalities of these two are also quite famous.

The two representatives from the Bundesliga are Borussia Dortmund's Heathfield and Bayern Munich's Trapattoni, and Zhuang Mingge wants to talk to them, especially his compatriot Trapattoni, but the former is discussing something with Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan "Mickey Mouse" when Zhuang Mingge arrives (because Keegan played in the Bundesliga when he was a player), and the latter has not yet arrived at the venue, so Ferguson is the only person Zhuang Mingge can talk to.

"Chairman Corleone, I really envy Fiorentina's current squad allocation." At this time, although Ferguson had made some name in European football with his excellent results in the Premier League, Fiorentina's name as a treble was obviously much louder than that of Manchester United, who won three Premier League titles.

Ferguson is telling the truth, although the current Manchester United still has some rare shadows of the "Red Devils" under Busby, it is still far inferior to a team of Fiorentina's level in terms of player allocation.

If nothing else, just the current forward configuration of the two, does anyone think that the combination of Andy Cole, Eric Cantona and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is more intimidating than the configuration of Barty, Vieri, Ronaldo and Inzaghi?

Of course, if you have friends who think Manchester United are more bullish forwards, I don't have anything to say, so let's seek common ground while reserving differences.

"Haha, Coach Ferguson, you've won the prize." Zhuang Mingge is also full of respect for the old Scottish man who has dedicated almost all his coaching career to Manchester United, "I believe that under your leadership, Manchester United will grow into a great giant sooner or later." ”

"Hehe, then I'll borrow your kind words, Chairman Corleone." Of course, Ferguson, who is not a traverser, didn't know that Zhuang Mingge was telling the truth, and thought that the other party was just polite.

During the period when Zhuang Mingge and Ferguson were talking, the remaining club representatives also came to the venue one after another, and 24 club representatives who participated in the Champions League gathered together, which means that the group draw ceremony for the 1996-97 Champions Cup has officially begun!

Due to the expansion of the Champions League, the number of teams entering the Champions League has increased from the previous 16 to 24, so this time the Champions League group is very different from the past, according to the regulations published by UEFA, there are a total of six groups in the Champions League group stage, of which the top of each group and the two most successful group runners-up can directly obtain a place to qualify for the semi-finals, which means that this season's Champions League group stage will be more intense.

After all, in the past, finishing in the top two of the group would have guaranteed qualification, but now no one wants to finish second in a group and then unexpectedly find that their side has lost their chance of qualifying because they are not as high as other teams.

Unlike last season, Zhuang Mingge last year can be said to be quite inconspicuous in the process of the entire grouping ceremony, after all, Fiorentina at that time did not have the confidence to compete with a European powerhouse, and this time Fiorentina, who won the treble, has become an eye-catching presence in the entire venue, countless cameras are aimed at Zhuang Mingge and Capello, and even before the draw ceremony begins, UEFA has specially arranged for him to come to the stage to deliver a speech.

However, Zhuang Mingge will not really make any tirade, he knows that this is a face given to him by UEFA, and if he really doesn't know how to talk about it, it will only cause disgust from others.

So, after a few simple words on the stage, Zhuang Mingge stepped off the podium, returned to his seat, and waited for the start of the lottery ceremony.

And on the way back to his position, he was greeted cordially by representatives of the club, and he did not feel like he was alone at this time last year.

This shijie is often like this, and when you have remarkable strength, all the honors and praises will follow.

It's just that Florence is now in such a beautiful situation, and naturally it has to pay a certain price for it.

Zhuang Mingge is also well aware of this, although he and Johansson have a good personal relationship because of some previous events, but this does not mean that Fiorentina will have a smooth road in the future European competition, after all, UEFA does not want to have a team that has been entrenched in the Champions League title for a long time, because this is likely to make the Champions Cup a decline in the attractiveness of the competition to fans, which is a phenomenon that UEFA does not want to see.

This Champions League grouping has not yet taken the form of the later draw according to the European points in the past five years, but under the secret promotion of Zhuang Mingge, Johansson has also begun to make certain reforms to the grouping method, so that this time the grouping has some shadows of later generations.

Before the draw began, UEFA announced six seeded teams, namely the champions of the four major leagues and Ligue 1 champions Monaco, as well as Dutch giants Ajax, who will be seeded in six different groups.

However, UEFA immediately announced six other teams as the second batch of seeded teams, also evenly distributed in each group, in order to ensure the excitement of the Champions Cup, in fact, everyone present knew that this is just a set of insurance measures made by UEFA in order to ensure that most of the strong teams will not be eliminated prematurely in the group stage.

After the announcement of two batches of seeded teams, the Champions League group draw ceremony is finally on the right track!