I started with Torres, to revive German football

Chapter 281 Awards and Champions League Grouping

On the day after the Manchester derby, Chelsea was held to a draw by Swansea in the away game. Mancini's team also ended its winning streak after losing to Manchester United. Currently, only Manchester City in the entire Premier League is continuing its victory. footsteps.

Although in the first three rounds of the Premier League, Manchester City's performance was not as eye-catching as Manchester United, and it was not even as explosive as Chelsea, but the victory lies in stability.

After defeating Manchester United [-]-[-], Manchester City's performance finally got back on track.

With this victory and Chelsea's draw, Manchester City successfully took a step forward and ranked first in the Premier League, two points ahead of Chelsea and one goal difference.

After this week's Premier League ends, the new season's Champions League games are about to begin.

Two weeks ago, when the Champions League qualifying rounds were completed, the 32 teams that reached the group stage were officially announced.

UEFA's official website also immediately ranked these 32 teams in European competition points and divided them into four tiers.

As last season's champion, Manchester City was undoubtedly assigned to the first team.

But what really surprises people is that because of Barcelona's victory, the Madrid duo, which is full of superstars, was actually placed in the second gear, becoming a real bomb, and it is possible to create two death groups.

When Guardiola saw the European War standings, his first reaction was that someone was going to be unlucky again this time. No seed team wanted to encounter these two tough bones.
Especially those champions at the bottom of the league, teams like Benfica, may have to play in the Europa League if they are not careful.

A sure draw bomb!
The three Premier League teams, Arsenal, Tottenham and Leicester City, are ranked in the second, third and fourth tiers based on their respective European War points.
In the second tier of teams, in addition to the Madrid duo and Arsenal, teams such as Dortmund, Naples, Porto, Leverkusen and Sevilla are also very strong.

In the original historical grouping, all the second-tier teams mentioned above actually qualified, and some even became the first in their group!

As for the third gear, although it is not as strong as the previous two groups, there are also teams such as PSV, Lyon, Monchengladbach and Dynamo Kiev.

The biggest trouble for Eastern European teams is the schedule, which is too far away and the weather is also very affected. Dynamo Kyiv's home field advantage is very obvious.

As for the fourth-tier teams, Monaco, which historically beat Paris Saint-Germain to win the Ligue [-] championship this season, and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, is the most terrifying thorn in the side!

"We shouldn't always be so unlucky, right?"

Manchester City's senior executives gathered together. The CEO looked at Guardiola and others with a wry smile and asked, Manchester City's death group in recent years has really annoyed him, especially last year's group, the one in Barcelona. The huge defeat almost brought the team to pieces.

Guardiola has no confidence in his heart, but looking at Manchester City's situation in recent years, it is estimated that the group of death will not be able to escape. The key depends on how deep the water in this group of death is.

If you can meet teams like Dortmund and Lyon, it will actually be quite good. You can also deceive yourself and enjoy the joy of hardship.

If you are unlucky and get a draw like Real Madrid or Dynamo Kiev, then get lost!

Now, the only advantage for Manchester City is that they will avoid Arsenal in the second gear and Tottenham in the third gear. These two North London teams are not weak!

After Manchester City won the Champions League last year, they did not carry out large-scale reorganization. Although many of the central players of the previous era were one year older, Aguero has also left the team.

But the overall framework of the team is still intact. As long as Zhao Jinge and De Bruyne can still play their role efficiently, Manchester City will still be the same Manchester City as last season in the European War!

It’s just that the bench may be slightly weaker.

There is no decline in strength, but you still have to be cautious in your mentality. It will be better to slowly defeat monsters and upgrade. I don’t pray for good fortune for Manchester City, but if they can be weak first and then become strong, that is the best for Manchester City. schedule.

"Just wait. From a probability perspective, our probability of winning the lottery is 100%. I don't believe in our luck anyway.

Every year is bad news, oh, I don’t know if UEFA is targeting us, but I have given up any hope for a long time! "

Sports director Begiristain complained with a wry smile.

"What you're saying does sound desperate, but I get more desperate every year when I go to the lottery."

Soriano also smiled bitterly, Manchester City's signings have not been easy in recent years!

"If you take out all the seven teams in the second tier after Arsenal, the space for us to choose is already very small. Every team is very strong, let alone Madrid. Such a big mine!
In addition, there are several good teams in the third tier, and teams from Eastern and Northern Europe are also concentrated in the third and fourth tiers. If they want to play away games in winter, it will be a disaster!
Anyway, I feel that no matter how we draw, our final result will not be very good. This is the tragedy of Manchester City now.

Moreover, we were the champions last season, and UEFA will definitely not let us take advantage on our way to defending the title! "

Guardiola is not optimistic about the draw.

In fact, this is not only true for Manchester City, but also for teams such as Madrid and Dortmund in the second tier.

They must meet the first-tier team, this is inevitable.

"So, look at it, don't be sad about the spring and autumn. We have overcome the difficult road to the championship last year, can it be more difficult this year than last year?!
Cheer up, as the team's top management, we should have confidence in our club. At least in front of the players and fans, we must remain optimistic! "

Soriano's bowl of poisonous chicken soup brought the conversation to an end. Several people were busy with their own work. In addition to daily prayers, they could only leave it to fate for things like drawing lots!
On the evening of August 26, the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco was brightly lit.

The annual UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony and UEFA awards ceremony officially kicked off here.

Manchester City arranged for Soriano to go to the scene as usual.

Guardiola, along with the coaching staff and most of the players who had not returned to the national team, stayed at the club to watch the live broadcast of the draw and awards ceremony after the day's training.

Guardiola doesn't care about the latter, because Manchester City will definitely win.His main concern was the draw.

Even if it is a death group, you still have to know who you have drawn!
While Guardiola was watching the draw in Manchester, far away in the president's office at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Florentino, Zidane and other Real Madrid executives were also nervously staring at the TV screen.

For some reason, Florentino always had a very ominous premonition. He felt that Real Madrid's group stage this year would not go particularly smoothly.

In fact, it wasn't just him who had such a premonition. People had had such a premonition for many, many years in the past, so much so that many people speculated that there was something shady about UEFA's draw.

But Florentino can swear that tonight's draw should be fair, because Real Madrid's general manager is watching right now.

If they really get drawn against teams like Guardiola's Manchester City or Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, then Real Madrid will be unlucky for themselves.

In addition to Florentino, Ronaldo and Nasser in Paris, Messi and Bartomeu in Barcelona, ​​etc. were also nervously staring at the broadcast.

The first thing was the UEFA awards ceremony. Zhao Jinge became the winner of the UEFA Player of the Year honor.

In the selection, the Manchester City forward defeated Messi and Ronaldo and won the award for the first time.

After all, last season, Zhao Jinge, who had just landed in the Premier League, became an honor harvester.

He contributed 64 goals and 22 assists in all competitions for Manchester City, helping the team become the triple champion of the Premier League + Champions League + League Cup.

In terms of personal honors, Zhao Jinge is also full of awards - European Cup Golden Boot, Champions League Golden Boot, European Golden Boot, Premier League Golden Boot, Premier League Player of the Season, PFA Player of the Year, FWA Player of the Year, etc. etc,
It can be said that except for the Ballon d'Or and World Footballer that have not been awarded yet, Zhao Jinge has received almost all honors this year!

Manchester City's head coach Guardiola, you have fulfilled your wish and become the best head coach of men's football, achieving a double harvest of generals!
It's just that Guardiola was busy preparing for the follow-up games at the time, and Zhao Jinge also stayed in Manchester to start his own advertising tour. Their awards were all collected by Soriano, and he did not attend the event in person.

After the awards ceremony, the exciting Champions League group draw officially arrived.

"The first seeded teams have been drawn, and Manchester City has been sent to Group G!
The award for the best coach of the women's football team will now begin, and the next step will be for the teams in the second tier. "

As the gold medal host of British Sky Sports, Andy Gray is enthusiastically introducing the live draw process on the show, especially focusing on the grouping of the four Premier League teams and those teams that may become super bombs!
Everyone knows that as long as which number one seed draws one of the Madrid duo in the second draw, then this group is likely to be the group of death.

There is no way, who made the Galacticos so helpless in the competition for the La Liga championship in the past few years? !

Real Madrid's last league championship actually dates back to the Mourinho period. It can only be said that Barcelona's dominance in the league is really much stronger than Real Madrid.

"In the second draw, the most eye-catching ones are Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid."

"We saw that the first one to be drawn was Porto, and they drew Barcelona. This lottery can be said to be the worst choices."

Subsequently, teams such as Naples, Dortmund, Arsenal and Sevilla were drawn out one after another.

They were divided with several weaker No. [-] seeds. The only ones that have not been drawn yet are Manchester City, Bayern and Paris Saint-Germain!
Several relatively weak No. [-] seeds have been removed, and the situation of the Madrid duo has become increasingly embarrassing.

"Let's take a look at this draw. Leverkusen was drawn and they entered the group of Paris Saint-Germain!"

"The next one out was Real Madrid and they met Manchester City!"

"Oh! What can I say about this draw? It can be said to be the worst draw for Manchester City in the Premier League!

Last season's Champions League runners-up were drawn into the same group. Now all the third- and fourth-tier teams are probably praying that they will not be assigned to Group G.

The qualifying situation of this group is now clear. Manchester City and Real Madrid cannot have a third team!

For teams in the third and fourth tiers, this is a complete group of death! "

"Real Madrid?! What a damn luck! Well, maybe our team will be more confident when facing Real Madrid. After all, we just played against them last season."

After seeing Real Madrid being drawn, Soriano felt a little bad. The malice coming towards him and the unlucky fortune made him really unable to feel happy.

The same is true for Lafayette who is far away in the Bernabeu. What is this? !
In the group stage, they will encounter the hardest nut to crack, directly facing the opponent Manchester City who defeated them to win the championship last season. This is also a huge challenge for Real Madrid, which just replaced the team's top star this summer.

"Who said there is no shady secret in UEFA's draw? Last season's champions and runners-up are reunited. Isn't this the consistent feature of UEFA's draw?"

After the draw of the second-tier teams ended, the third-tier and fourth-tier teams were soon divided into the drawn groups, and the final result of the lottery also made Soriano bitter and smile.

Dynamo Kyiv and Zenit, two Eastern European teams!

This means that Manchester City will have at least one harsh winter expedition this winter!If you’re not lucky, you might have to fly to Eastern Europe in three weeks!

Let’s not talk about the opponent’s strength. It’s the weather, the distance, and the Premier League’s unique winter break. At this point, we can already say in advance that it will be a devil’s home game and a terrifying schedule!

Soriano at the scene was still forcing a smile, while Florentino in the Bernabeu office hammered the table hard.

This shit schedule is equally unfriendly to Real Madrid. Competing with Manchester City for first place in the group is already a headache.

As a result, two more Eastern European teams have come to join forces, which is a huge headache. Dynamo Kiev and Zenit are both one of the dominant teams in their respective leagues.

If they easily send substitute players to play, both Real Madrid and Manchester City will be at risk of overturning due to the opponent's home advantage, but if they want to send their main force to go on an expedition, the loss to the team will be too great!It's simply disgusting and worthless!
(End of this chapter)