Chapter 578: The Group of Death

Chelsea's Group G opponents are Bundesliga powerhouse Schalke Zero-Four. Although Schalke is very strong and not much worse than Borussia Dortmund, it is clearly a good signing compared to Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

The second tier team in the final group is the Ukrainian overlord Shakhtar Donetsk, who will compete with the European black shop Porto.

Next up is the third bracket, with Greek league champions Olympiacos being drawn to Group A, where they can barely play between Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Liverpool, who are the strongest in the third division, have been placed in Group B, which has made the mood of the Barcelona fans slightly better. At least Olympiacos, the weakest player in the third division, was not assigned to Real Madrid, although Basel came to play soy sauce, but Liverpool's joining should still be a little passionate, right?

After moving away from Suarez this season, Rodgers brought in players such as Balotelli, Ricky Lambert, Adam Lallana, etc. It's hard to say how it is, and you won't know how this Liverpool is until the Champions League starts, but looking at the current league situation, Liverpool doesn't seem to be very strong.

The three-tier team in the third group is Leverkusen, united with Benfica and Zenit in front, plus the current Bundesliga powerhouse Leverkusen, although there is no giant team in it, but the strength of the three teams is almost the same, this is no longer a dragon battle can be described, it is basically the group of death.

Next is Arsenal's Group D, after having Juventus, Arsenal doesn't want to draw any tough bones, but counting the remaining three teams, it doesn't seem to be very easy to deal with.

"Galassatare!!" Figo pronounced the name.

Arsene Wenger was still able to accept the draw result, and after the departure of Drogba, the Galasatare became easier to deal with. Of course, the only thing to worry about is Istanbul's home turf of the devils. Juventus tumbled on them last season, and a win in that game would have been all it took for Juventus to qualify from the group.

However, heavy snow and hail suddenly fell during the race, and the game was interrupted for half an hour. And when the game resumed, Galassatare's home stadium was a muddy field, not even a vegetable patch.

This would be a disaster for Juventus, who have the good midfielders of Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Vidal in the pass-and-control route, as they simply have no way to get the ball to their team-mates

In the end, they drew that game and ended up losing a full season of Champions League games.

"After having Juventus as an opponent, Wenger is not surprised that there are any opponents left, because there is no better than Juventus in the remaining teams, so Wenger has been prepared" For Wenger's expression, the commentator interpreted it like this.

CSKA Moscow, Ajax and Sporting Lisbon were placed in groups E, F and G. CSKA Moscow's difficult home stadium could cause some problems for Bayern Munich and Manchester City, but the final problem should not be too much. The current Ajax is no longer the European hegemon of the original Champions League three consecutive titles, they were even almost pulled down by other Eredivisie powerhouses such as Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven last season, and even AZ Alkmaar gave Ajax a lot of trouble, so it is a good signing for Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

As for Sporting Lisbon, the current Chelsea is very strong, Schalke Zero Four and Sporting Lisbon are not enough to threaten each other, so Chelsea's right to qualify for the first place in the group may be doomed after being separated from this group, as long as Chelsea itself does not cheat.

The last group was more interesting, when all the opponents were drawn, there was no choice in this group, only the final La Liga powerhouse, Athletic Bilbao. Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Athletic Bilbao are all about the same as the three teams in Group C, very close in terms of strength, there are no particularly huge giants in them, but in terms of their respective strengths, the two sides are almost the same.

Needless to say, Porto is a super black shop in Europe, and it is impossible for fans who are familiar with European football not to know them. Then it was the overlord of Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk, when Li Zihan was still at Juventus, they pressed Juventus at that time to get the first place in the group, so this is definitely a difficult bone to gnaw. Athletic Bilbao may have a mediocre league record in the final round, but there is no doubt about the quality of their squad. Because of the two super giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, it seems that Bilbao is not very strong.

But if you think so, it is definitely suicidal. The fighting spirit of the Basque Lions is very strong, and even Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona have been attacked by Athletic Bilbao. So this is again a group of death

Finally, there are fourth-tier teams, and there are generally no strong teams and strong teams in such groups. However, this season was a special one, as Monaco broke into the Champions League for the first time in decades, and were placed in the fourth tier due to poor points.

After a large amount of reinforcements last season, Monaco suddenly changed from a newly promoted dick to a high-end coach who was second in the league, although it did not put much pressure on the overlord Paris Saint-Germain, but it overwhelmed Marseille, Lyon, Lille and many other French powerhouses, and the ability can be seen.

Although Monaco's strength has declined following the departure of James Rodriguez and the loan transfer of Falcao, they are still a force to be reckoned with.

There is also a special team that is Roma, who are in a somewhat similar situation to Monaco. It's just that they are a strong team in Serie A, but last season's table was excellent, plus Milan's two heroes and Napoli's table were not good, and finally won the second place.

So it will be up to the two unlucky groups to meet the two strongest teams in the fourth division, even Roma and Monaco, which are stronger than the second division teams such as Basel and Zenit.

"Malmö!!"

"Ludogorets!!"

The two underdogs were assigned to Group A and Group B, which was a good signing for Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have basically locked in two places, plus Real Madrid and Liverpool in Group B, basically the qualifying places have been allocated in advance.

The rest of the teams are tighter, especially the three teams in Group C, because the next draw is the fourth division of Group C.

As the saying goes, the more you are afraid of something, the more you come.

"Monaco!!"

The Ligue 1 runners-up were placed in Group C, and the other three teams in this group were completely in tears, especially Benfica, who was already wondering if Figo was Portuguese and why he couldn't get along with the Portuguese team so much.

"Haha, there's a good show to watch now, a group like Benfica, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco may bring good play to the fans, of course, the fans of these four teams definitely don't think so."

"Group of Death!! Absolute Group of Death. Of the four teams in this group, it is no surprise who will advance and who will be eliminated. They are very close in quality, and they all have hope of qualifying and danger of going out. In the past, the group of death generally appeared on the giants and those teams that were not liked by UEFA, but I didn't expect that these four civilian teams also encountered the group of death" The commentators are very excited, they have waited for so long, aren't they just waiting for the group of death, if there is no group of death, then how boring the Champions League will be this season!

Figo himself was embarrassed.

"Anderlecht!" The Belgian giants have been drawn in Group D for Arsenal, who are safe after Monaco were knocked out of Group C. With Juventus as a Serie A team, they can't meet Roma, who are also Serie A teams, so it's almost the same as meeting anyone next, of course, it would be better if they met teams like Maribor and Borisov.

"Rome!!"

Well, Group D escaped, Group E did not. Roma went to the group of Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

"The situation of this group is not optimistic, and Bayern Munich's strength group is certainly not a big problem. But Manchester City, who have failed in the Champions League in a few seasons, is hard to say. Even if they qualify, I think Roma and CSKA Moscow will cause problems for the new Premier League champions. ”

After both Rome and Monaco were allocated, the rest is not worth attention.

In the end, the situation of the Champions League group stage this season is more complicated, Group A is Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Olympiacos, Malmo; Group B is Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool and Ludogorets who are reaching the tournament for the first time; Group C is the group of death formed by Benfica, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco; Group D is Arsenal, Juventus, Galasatare and Anderlecht; Group E is Bayern Munich, Manchester City, CSKA Moscow and Red Wolves Roma; Group F is Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Ajax, and Atletico Greek; Group G is Chelsea, Schalke 04, Sporting Lisbon, Maribor; The final Group H is the second largest group of deaths formed by Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao and Borisov.

In this way, the round of 32 of this season's Champions League was officially born. There are a lot of highlights, in addition to the two groups of death, is the return of the Reds Liverpool to the European stage, the last time the Reds appeared in the Champions League was five years ago, when the Reds were at their peak.