The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 169 Super Death Group
It has almost become a routine. Every year at the end of August and the beginning of September, Monaco will become the focus of fans all over the world.

Not because of the European Super Cup, but because of the European Champions Cup first-round group draw ceremony.

Interestingly, hot news and reports will appear before the draw ceremony every year.

Obviously, UEFA's hype and promotion of the Champions League, to a large extent, borrowed from the conventional hype techniques of some Hollywood blockbusters. The annual European Champions Cup group draw ceremony is a blockbuster in itself.

This year's hot news is mainly in Serie A. Juventus, who won the Serie A championship, got the treatment of the seed team in the first round of the Champions League group stage. It is very ideal, especially after the expansion of the Champions League, Juventus has never played in the knockout round.

Like Juventus, it can even be said that AC Milan, which is in a worse situation, is likely to fall into the fourth tier this season, which also makes this year's Champions League draw very mysterious. You can see it.

According to the list given by UEFA, the eight seeded teams are Real Madrid, Bayern, Manchester United, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Juventus, Arsenal and Inter Milan. There are many of these eight teams. The strength of the team has been questioned.

If the seeded teams in the first tier itself represent the most powerful giants in European football, then the teams in the second tier such as Roma, Deportivo, Leverkusen, and Liverpool represent The strength of the major European leagues, any of their teams have the strength to challenge the seeded teams.

The most frightening team in the third tier was undoubtedly Ye Qiu's Ajax.

Many people think that this team should be placed in the top two tiers. The reason is very simple. Ajax has already passed the UEFA Cup the year before and last year's Champions League semi-finals. As well as various factors, Ajax can only be ranked in third gear in the end.

As Ye Qiu said in an interview with the media before the game, "We don't mind who we draw, because it's the same for us. It's our opponents who should care, I dare you Guaranteed, none of the 16 teams in the first two tiers wants to touch us!"

Pots [-] and [-] are already very strong and competitive teams. According to the previous Champions League tiers, the first two tiers are also favorites to qualify for the group stage. But if the strength of the teams in the third tier If you have the ability to challenge the first two gears, isn't that the group of death?
For Ajax, there is no difference. Anyway, since they were assigned to the third tier, they were destined to enter the death group with powerful opponents. Not only Ajax, but also There are Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund and other teams, and they are all destined to encounter strong opponents.

What is even more worrying is that there is an AC Milan in the fourth gear.

As analyzed by L'Equipe, Ajax in the third tier and AC Milan in the fourth tier are definitely not what any team wants to meet, because no one wants to compete with such a strong opponent to qualify. right.

There are also some head coaches and club officials of teams in the first and second tiers complaining that UEFA's classification is unreasonable, thinking that some teams in the first and second tiers, such as Galatasaray, Lyon and other teams, they The strength is not as good as Ajax and AC Milan, but they are divided into the first two pots, while these two superior teams are divided into the third and fourth pots.

"This has to make us wonder, is someone trying to arrange a jaw-dropping draw result through this kind of classification?"

Before the draw ceremony, this piece of news has been fried in the media all over the world, and it has caused a huge discussion. Almost even ordinary fans are arguing whether the division between Ajax and AC Milan is reasonable, and whether it is reasonable for Europe to win. A series of topics such as whether the Football Federation's classification method is reasonable.

And after earning enough hype and publicity from the media all over the world, and earning enough attention from the fans, the lottery ceremony came long after the much-anticipated, but the result of the lottery surprised everyone.

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When the lottery guests took out the note from the ball and shouted out AC Milan through the microphone, the entire conference center fell into a dead silence like a void, followed by a deafening uproar.

Everyone was taken aback by UEFA's big money, even those involved.

Ye Qiu sat in the back row, his helpless expression of shaking his head and wry smile, was clearly captured by the live broadcast camera, and was put on the big screen in the middle of the conference center, where everyone could see Everything written on the face of a young Chinese head coach.

He and his Ajax seem to be manipulated dolls, at the mercy of others, not just him, all the coaches present, all teams, even the high-ranking giants, cannot escape being manipulated. Man manipulated fate.

Bayern Munich, Deportivo, Ajax and AC Milan!

This is definitely the group of death in the group of death, because these four teams are the strongest teams in the European arena in recent years, needless to say Bayern Munich, Deportivo is in the era of Super Deportivo , Ajax and AC Milan are both in a strong recovery stage. Putting these four teams in the same group, won't this make them die?

Looking at the draws of other teams, Barcelona is so lucky, Galatasaray, Lokomotiv Moscow and Club Brugge, Juventus are also very lucky, Feyenoord, Dynamo Kiev and Newcastle, Manchester United They encountered Leverkusen, Olympiacos and Maccabi Haifa.

It can be said that the strengths and weaknesses of the other groups are relatively clear. Even in the group of Arsenal, PSV, Dortmund and Auxerre, Arsenal's strength can ensure that there is no problem in qualifying for the group.

But there is only this group G, the four teams are all teams striving to qualify for the group, and they are all strong teams with certain appeal and influence in European football, but now they are divided into the same group, It can't just be tragedy or comedy.

"In the next few months, UEFA will definitely focus on promoting this group you are in!"

Eliza, who accompanied Ye Qiu to participate in the draw ceremony, was sitting next to him. Her keen sense of smell made her aware of UEFA's thoughts at once, because if the strength of each group is very different, there will be a huge difference. If the suspense is lost, it will be difficult for the Champions League group stage to attract the attention of fans, and it will be difficult to drive the climax of suspense from the beginning.

"That's why they said that if you want to win the Champions League, strength alone is not enough, you have to have luck, the luck of the lottery!" Ye Qiu laughed, shaking his head, he quickly let go, because this itself is European football. part of the rules.

Complaining is definitely necessary, but you have to adapt, accept, and act according to this set of rules. At least in Europe, no club can compete with UEFA, not even the G14.

"This is a common trick, but although the teams assigned to this group may have been affected in the Champions League, they have benefited in other aspects, such as off-field attention and influence, and UEFA also It is impossible to wear small shoes for you every year, and what you lose this year will be compensated to you next year."

Eliza has a thorough understanding of this set of unspoken rules, but to do this, the premise is still the same sentence, strength.

Without enough strength, even if you are assigned to the best group, you may not be able to qualify.

"Why do I feel like the lottery has been unlucky for two consecutive years?" Ye Qiu shook his head and smiled wryly.

"The influence of the Eredivisie teams has always been limited, so from the perspective of business operations, the four major leagues are the protagonists of the Champions League, while the teams in other leagues can only play supporting roles, and cannot escape the fate of dragons and green leaves. "

Ye Qiu snorted and didn't say anything, but he was not convinced in his heart, but he also knew that this was the reality.

With the draw concluded and the schedule set out, Ajax's Champions League first-round group stage first game is an away game against AC Milan, then a home game against Bayern Munich, followed by an away game against Deportivo.

"What? Seeing the results of the lottery, do you feel a little unconfident?" Eliza smiled and nudged Ye Qiu's arm lightly with her elbow.

Ye Qiu turned his head and smiled, "Not confident? Let me tell you, I can even kill Manchester United, Juventus and Barcelona. Do you think I will be afraid of a Bayern Munich team that has obviously gone downhill? Afraid of an old team?" AC Milan? Afraid of the so-called Super Depor team?"

Not to be afraid, Ye Qiu has been mentally prepared for the death group ever since he knew the team was in the third tier, but now that he has drawn three strong opponents, he feels that this is too unlucky.

"Just wait and see, I will definitely walk out of the death group by stepping on their corpses!"

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If the lottery ceremony only told Ye Qiu one truth, that is, the four major leagues are the core of European football, then, at the awards ceremony, Ye Qiu truly realized that the giants are the protagonists of European football.

The best goalkeeper, Kahn from Bayern, Ajax's old goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar even came in behind Juventus' Buffon.

According to Van der Sar's performance last season, plus Ajax reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, the performance of this old goalkeeper definitely surpassed Buffon, but he is the Serie A champion of the four major leagues, and Kahn Last season's performance was also very good, because Ye Qiu really couldn't say anything about this award.

The best defender has nothing to do with Ajax. Roberto Carlos won this award, while Roma's Cafu and Liverpool's Hyypia came in second and third respectively. This made Ye Qiu very strange. Why can't Theo take it?Is the Brazilian central defender worse than them?

Leverkusen's Ballack got the best midfielder, Manchester United's Roy Keane, and Arsenal's Vieira got the second and third respectively, but there is nothing wrong with Ajax.

The same is true for the best striker, Raul, Trezeguet and Ruud van Nistelrooy respectively took the top three.

The most valuable player is the show of the rich players, but this time Ajax is mentioned, but it is a sad foil, because they were awarded the most valuable player in the semi-finals of last season Real Madrid superstar Zinedine Zidane scored an unbelievable flying fairy.

Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy occupy second and third respectively.

Sometimes when I think about it, it’s really sad. Ajax reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, won the Eredivisie championship and the Dutch Cup championship. The team also showed enough competitiveness in the European arena, but even one No awards.

Ajax's only award nomination was the best coach award, and Ye Qiu once again became the sad second child in a thousand years.

Last year it was Bayern Munich's Hitzfeld, and this year it was Real Madrid's Del Bosque. In the past two years, Ye Qiu was ranked second in the best coach award, but they all belonged to the kind of people who were pulled far, far away. of that kind.

Why are all the players and all the managers eager to go to the giants?

Perhaps, from this awards ceremony, and even from various award ceremonies around the world football, we can see the clues.

If you don't play for a wealthy family, and they don't even know your name, who would know you?Who will choose you?
"I should go back and sing a song!" Ye Qiu looked disappointed, but smiled.

"What song?" Eliza wondered.

"I'm a little bird!" After saying that, Ye Qiu couldn't help laughing.

I am a little bird, I want to fly, but I can't fly high...

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After the draw results of the first round of the UEFA Champions League group stage, as well as the results of various European football awards last season, they immediately became the headlines of major newspapers in Europe and the world the next day, especially for Bayern Munich, Deportivo and Deportivo. , Ajax and AC Milan are in Group G, which is called the super death group by the media.

"Four teams have the strength of the seed, but they are arranged in the same group, competing for two places to appear. Is there anything more cruel than this? UEFA has drawn out this super death group to please people who want to see more There are so many fans who have strong dialogues, but they are cruelly torturing these four teams with superior strength."

In the comments of the media, there is no lack of sympathy for these four poor teams that are deeply trapped in the super death group, but these four teams do not appreciate it at all, and no one is willing to show weakness in advance.

Heathfield said in an interview, "This is not a lottery. On the contrary, I think this lottery is good, because we have encountered some familiar teams. On the contrary, if we let us win in the winter If I go to Kiev or Moscow where the ice and snow are, I will have even more headaches."

AC Milan coach Ancelotti said, "This is a very tough group, Bayern Munich is the strongest team in Europe, Ajax is an awesome opponent, Deportivo, as always The level is high, the quality is not bad at all, but we are not scared, we are confident enough to come out of the group."

Irueta, the head coach of Super Depor, is equally optimistic about the appearance, "The strength of our group is very balanced. The other three teams are all great teams with a very high level. It is sure to draw such an opponent. It will make the game more difficult, but we will go all out and we will definitely be able to qualify from the group.

Ye Qiu also accepted media interviews after the game, and also expressed his opinions and views on the group draw.

"No matter who the opponent is drawn, I will not be surprised or afraid, because in the Champions League, all teams are not simple, they are all superior, and they want to beat their opponents and stand out from the group. , we must use games and victories to prove our strength."

"Yes, we performed well last season, but that has nothing to do with us anymore, we still have to start from the group stage now, we still have to win game by game, we have already done it Prepare, we will definitely qualify from the group.”

But it is clear that the bookmakers are not optimistic about Ajax at all.

在抽签结果出炉之后，威廉希尔第一时间更新了32强最后的夺冠赔率，皇家马德里以1赔4。5遥遥领先，曼联则是1赔5紧随其后，巴塞罗那则是1赔8。

From the perspective of the top three, Real Madrid and Barcelona have each introduced superstar players. The former is Ronaldo, the latter is Riquelme, and Manchester United has introduced Rio Ferdinand to further strengthen the defense that has been criticized for many years. Therefore, it is not surprising that these three teams have become the top three odds.

阿森纳、拜仁慕尼黑和尤文图斯都是1赔10，国际米兰1赔11，利物浦和罗马1赔14，瓦伦西亚1赔16，拉科鲁尼亚1赔18，AC米兰是1赔20。

So what about Ajax?

Ajax's odds are 1 to 66, ranking 22nd, even after Newcastle and Eindhoven.

William Hill has its own views and analysis on why Ajax's odds are so low.

"If the performance of the Eredivisie defending champion in the past two seasons is used, the odds should be higher. We even think that he should be within 1 to 20, but obviously, being assigned to the death group makes more It is difficult for people to take a good look at this Eredivisie team, because everyone thinks that Ajax should strive for third place in Group G, and then go to the UEFA Cup to continue their campaign."

Moreover, according to the analysis of some professionals, from the aggressive style of play that Ajax has presented in the past two years and this season, many people are worried about this young team, because the Champions League He has always paid attention to defense in general, and it is difficult to have the last laugh if he pursues offense too much.

"Everyone must remember that since Ajax defeated AC Milan to win the Champions League in the 94/95 season, no team from the four major leagues has ever been involved in the Champions League, and since the 95/96 season, Ajax Since reaching the final, there has never been a team from a non-Big Four league that has reached the final.”

"We all have to admit one thing, that is, European football has completely changed, it has become more and more disparity between strength and weakness, and the gap between the four major leagues and the non-big four leagues is constantly being widened, especially since the Bo This phenomenon became even more pronounced after the Sman Act began.”

"Therefore, we have every reason to believe that the last team to appear at Old Trafford must be a team from the four major leagues!"

(End of this chapter)