Chapter 178 Join Forces
Due to the impact of international competitions, the Premier League was suspended for more than a week, and Manchester City also gave players two days off. After that, players who did not enter the national team should return to the team to continue training, while other players followed the national team to play.
During these two days, the players can rest, but Wansheng as the head coach cannot rest. The next day, he and the club general manager Bi Knicks went to Monaco to participate in the new season of the UEFA Champions League there. Group draw ceremony.
It is not the first time that Wansheng has participated in the draw for European competitions. Last time, he represented Derby County in the draw for the UEFA Cup last summer, but the UEFA Cup was far less popular than the Champions League. At that time, he was only a young player from a 'small club'. The coach is not famous at all, and naturally no one will care about him.
It's different now.
He represented Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League draw. Manchester City were the Premier League champions last season. What they will do in the Champions League this season is also expected, especially when he led Derby County to the UEFA Cup last time. He is also considered to have European experience. The coach, in addition, his fame now is not the same as then, so there are still many media who are willing to interview him for leading Manchester City to participate in the Champions League.
When Wan Sheng and Bi-Knicks walked into the venue together, many reporters on guard flocked to him, he was directly surrounded, and Bi-Knicks stood aside and watched happily.
This is the first time that a Chinese coach has appeared in the Champions League. Maybe the Chinese media will report this 'historical moment', but for European media, it is normal to interview Wansheng. Even in the World Cup, this is completely 'out of the picture' The young Chinese can become the protagonists, not to mention, Manchester City, which he led in the European competition this season, is also one of the participating teams.
But the ideas of domestic and foreign media are obviously different. There were still domestic reporters who kept taking pictures to remember this moment. They planned to use this as the central material of today's report. After all, this is indeed a moment that can represent the history of Chinese football.
This season, for Chinese football media. It's an event worth writing about. No Chinese players have participated in the UEFA Champions League before, but now there will be. Manchester City's Sun Jihai and Wang Xiaolei will not say much. They will definitely represent Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League. At the same time, Dong Fangzhuo is also about to obtain a labor certificate, which means that He is likely to represent Manchester United in the Champions League.
However, it is not unusual for players to participate in the Champions League. After all, there are more players than coaches. What is so strange about one or two Chinese players among the 32 teams in the Champions League group stage? Although it didn't exist before, it really doesn't matter if you think about it this way.
But the coach is amazing!
There are 32 teams in the Champions League group stage, but only 32 head coaches, one of which is a Chinese coach, which is a great honor.
European football is basically dominated by white coaches, and black coaches are rarely seen, and other types of coaches have basically disappeared. In fact, this is a very subtle form of discrimination. Most sports in Europe are dominated by white coaches. Coaches of other races are assistant coaches, tactical coaches, etc. In short, they are all auxiliary work. This is also related to some discriminatory 'habits'. White coaches are more It is easy to gain trust, they will get more opportunities, and a little achievement will be highlighted, while other types of coaches will be questioned in various ways after they have achieved achievements.
Just like Wansheng, after some success, doubts have always existed.
If he were a white man, he would have been touted by the media as 'the most talented coach', but there is no such voice at all. Even in the English media, there are constantly voices of doubt. They do not deny the success of Wansheng, but want to Dig into the 'real' reasons for success to illustrate some of the 'don't accept' problems.
This is how Wansheng was treated.
reason? He is a Chinese, of the yellow race.
It is precisely because of this that Wansheng can now stand on the stage of the Champions League, which is particularly precious. Therefore, the Chinese media thought of using 'the first head coach in the history of Chinese football to appear in the Champions League' as the core material for reporting, which is completely understandable. .
This is not a fuss, but a real success and honor.
Wan Sheng understood the thoughts of the domestic media very well, and he was happy to be interviewed by the domestic media, so when surrounded by reporters, he directly ordered a domestic media reporter, wanting to be the first to be interviewed by his compatriots.
"How do you feel about being able to lead the team on the stage of the Champions League?" The reporter's question was very simple, but it was a topic of concern to many domestic media and fans.
Wan Sheng smiled and said in Chinese, "My current thinking is very simple, I hope the team can be divided into a good group, lead the team to the top 16, and then continue to move forward, move forward, and do our best to go Get better grades!"
After he finished speaking, he glanced at the surrounding reporters provocatively and switched to English, "Of course, if we can win the championship, that would be great!"
"Hula..." There was a lot of discussion.
All the reporters understood the last sentence, and suddenly they were in an uproar.
What did they hear?
This young Chinese actually said that he wanted to win the championship? Is he crazy? Participating in the Champions League for the first time... No, Manchester City, who participated in the European competition for the first time in five years, actually said that they wanted to win the Champions League. This is a big joke!
Many media reporters who were not familiar with Wansheng immediately felt that the rumors were true. This young Chinese was not only arrogant, but he was simply carried away by his "small" achievements!
Champions League champion? Haha... If Manchester City can make it out of the group, thank goodness!
......
The media press conference thinks that it is difficult for Manchester City to cross the threshold of the group stage. It is not that Manchester City is poor in strength and has no experience in European competition. Manchester City was the Premier League champion last season and defeated Chelsea and Arsenal in the first three rounds of this season. There must be strength, which everyone must admit, but they still think so, in fact, there are some reasons, that is Manchester City's UEFA points.
A team's UEFA points are the sum of the UEFA's five-year European war points (the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup are both European wars) and the European league's European war points. According to UEFA's existing points According to the rules, a team can enjoy 33% of the European competition points of its own league. That is to say, a team that has not participated in any European competitions within five years will also have certain European competition points.
This is the case with Manchester City. In the previous five years, Manchester City had not participated in the UEFA Cup or the Champions League, and they did not have any European points, so Manchester City's UEFA points were only 33% of the Premier League's European points in the past five years, which is 39.133 points.
This score is higher than some minor league teams. But it is far lower than the giants of the major leagues.
According to UEFA grouping rules. All participating teams will be divided into four grades according to UEFA points, and each group will be divided into four teams in four grades, while Manchester City's points are only higher than Anderlecht's, dotted in At the end of the third-tier team, this is because Manchester City is a Premier League team. If it is changed to a league, or the Premier League team's results last season are a little worse. Manchester City is likely to be directly classified in the fourth tier.
certainly. There is actually no difference between the third grade and the fourth grade. What they have in common is that the group they are assigned to will definitely have a strong team of the second grade and the first grade.
Combined with Manchester City itself, it means that Manchester City will almost certainly be placed in a 'group of death'.
This is also the reason why the European media are not optimistic about Manchester City being able to qualify for the group.
Of course, it all depends on the grouping.
The draw ceremony of the UEFA Champions League is actually the best award ceremony for the Champions League last season. The Champions League champion last season was Barcelona. So they took the top scorer, best midfielder and best coach honors, coaches and players of other teams. Just watch them go up to receive the prize.
Barcelona really did well in the Champions League last season. After qualifying in the group stage, they beat Chelsea, Benfica and AC Milan in the knockout stages, and defeated Arsenal in the final to win the Champions League.
Chelsea and AC Milan are definitely strong teams in the Champions League. These two teams even had the lowest odds of winning the Champions League last season, and they were also the most promising teams to win the Champions League. As a result, they were both defeated by Barcelona one after another. It can be said that Barcelona's championship is full of gold.
Wan Sheng watched the players go up to receive the award with a solemn expression. He knew that this moment was the beginning of Barcelona's glory. In his memory, Barcelona's performance will always be so good that it is basically composed of Barcelona and Real Madrid players. The Spanish national team is very strong, and won the European Cup and the World Cup in 2008 and 2010 respectively. It can be said that in the next few years, if he wants to lead the team to achieve good results in European competitions, Barcelona will definitely become the most important opponent. one.
It's not easy to beat the mighty Barcelona, it's much more difficult than beating Chelsea in the league.
Wan Sheng could feel a warm blood flowing in his heart.
That's the excitement and excitement of facing a challenge.
......
After the awards ceremony, it was time for the group drawing ceremony.
At this time, each invited player representative, UEFA officials, and guests will come forward to draw lots for each player group.
In the order of the draw, the seeded teams were first, then the second and third. When Manchester City's name was drawn, Wan Sheng and Bea Knicks both had wry smiles on their faces.
Everyone looked at him with sympathy.
Manchester City were placed in Group G, along with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Bundesliga hegemons Bayern Munich and Sofia Levski from Bulgaria.
This is without a doubt the 'group of death'!
Seeing this group, what else can Wansheng do other than smile bitterly?
In this group, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are extremely strong opponents. Many people think that the two teams will compete for the first place in the group. Manchester City is only a little threat to the two teams. As for Sofia Levski, it is purely a top team, and there is a little hope of qualifying. nothing.
Wan Sheng's view is of course different, what he thinks is how to appear.
Only two teams in a group can qualify. Needless to say, Sofia Levski has no chance. If Manchester City wants to qualify, they must squeeze out Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. Compared with the two opponents, the Bundesliga hegemon is better. One of the best. Real Madrid, which has been getting worse and worse recently, is still strong in European competitions, but every season, it is only a result of qualifying for the group. They have a lot of superstars, but various internal problems have led to Real Madrid in The Spanish arena simply cannot compete with Barcelona. The results in the Champions League have also been affected.
So, there is still a lot of hope for Manchester City.
What's more, even against Bayern Munich, Wansheng is not afraid of anything. Manchester City was the Premier League champion last season anyway. Even without European experience. But not necessarily to lose to the Bundesliga hegemony.
Of course, the most important thing in the group stage is to grab enough points. The outcome of one or two games is not important. Which one is important and which one is not, depends on the schedule, in order to avoid injury to the team, etc. problem arises. As the game is approaching, you need to think more about it.
but no matter. Wansheng also has great confidence to lead the team to qualify.
However, the media did not see it this way. The media who almost saw the group grouping immediately felt that Manchester City had no hope. They even felt that there was no need to pay attention to Manchester City, because Manchester City would definitely not be able to appear in the group. Teams that are impossible to see in the knockout rounds of the round of 16, what should we pay attention to?
But there are still English media who are willing to interview Wansheng. After all, Wansheng is a key figure in England, and it is not good to group them now. The English media still hope that Manchester City can qualify, because Manchester City is an English club, and the appearance of the group means that it can bring more UEFA points to England.
So after the draw was over, some English journalists surrounded Wansheng.
Wan Sheng doesn't care about the foreign media's attitude towards him. Now they don't interview him. When the leading team appears, they will definitely ask to interview him.
In the face of the English media, he seemed very relaxed.
There are many faces in front of him, and many of them are familiar, so Wan Sheng also showed a smile, but this does not mean that Wan Sheng is in a good mood. Right now, he is in an extremely bad mood. Whoever team is assigned to such a group Neither will be happy.
So why is Manchester City divided into the 'group of death'? This is not accidental, but inevitable. Even if the group is changed, it is just to replace Real Madrid with AC Milan, or replace Bayern Munich with Lyon. In short, the group Manchester City is in must be group of death.
All this is due to Manchester City being classified as a "third pot" by UEFA.
UEFA calculates the "UEFA points" based on the team's European competition results to determine the team's grade. Wansheng felt that it was very unfair because Manchester City had not played a European competition in the past few years, but Manchester City It was the league champion last season.
So facing the media, Wan Sheng said, "I believe the performance of the previous league is the real judging criterion. Two years ago, Liverpool won the Champions League, but they were 36 points behind Derby County in the Premier League, not even Finished in the top four, last year Arsenal reached the Champions League final, but only finished fifth in the league and didn't even qualify for the Champions League."
Then Wansheng pointed the finger at Inter Milan, "Inter Milan was only the third place in Serie A last season, and their championship was only printed on the jersey." He was referring to the 'Phonegate scandal' in the summer, due to AC Milan and Juventus were punished, and Inter Milan won a league title in vain.
After that, Wan Sheng talked about Manchester City, "We were the Premier League champions last season. I can't think of why the Premier League champion is the third-tier team, the runner-up Chelsea is the second-tier team, the third-placed Manchester United and the third-tier team. The fourth-placed Liverpool is the first-tier team?" Then he made his own suggestion, "I think UEFA should consider this, the champions of the major leagues should have extra points, otherwise it will be too confusing! "
Even though I knew what kind of temper the Chinese were in front of me, the surrounding media reporters were still quite surprised. It was just a matter of being in the domestic league. This guy actually made mad words in the Champions League?
It is the first time to lead a team to participate in the Champions League, and dare to point fingers at UEFA's grouping rules?
Although many people feel that Wansheng's statement is somewhat reasonable, more people feel that this young Chinese is too arrogant!
This is the Champions League, not the Premier League!
It is the first time to lead the team to participate in the Champions League, why should I keep a low profile? Even if you are in the group of death, you will not be dissatisfied. Just keep it in your heart and wait for a good result. Now that the group stage has not started, you are not afraid of offending UEFA, or attracting more attention?
Wouldn't the hope of Manchester City's qualifying be reduced again?
Or... Could it be that this Chinese felt that there was no hope of qualifying, and then... he was afraid! ? This is big news!
But in fact, Wan Sheng is not the only one who is dissatisfied with the grouping situation, and it is not only Wan Sheng who dares to criticize UEFA's group work, because in addition to Wan Sheng in the Premier League, there is also Mourinho.
Chelsea's group is definitely not good, because they have met Barcelona again. They have met Barcelona in the Champions League for three consecutive years. This time they met Barcelona in the group stage. With the addition of the new Bundesliga Werder Bremen, this is also the same. is the group of death.
For Chelsea, this is definitely not a good signing.
And all of this is also thanks to Chelsea being classified as a "second-tier team" by UEFA, so in an interview after the grouping ended, Mourinho said, "Chelsea should not be in the second-tier, we Having reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for three consecutive years, and fourth last year, I think UEFA should consider the league results to add or subtract points." He even rarely said a word for Manchester City, "Manchester City is the third grade. ? It's ridiculous, we just lost to them at Stamford Bridge. If English teams are not as good as other leagues in this Champions League, it must be the problem of this grouping!"
Then he expressed his dissatisfaction with the team with Barcelona. "This seems to be an inevitable thing. It is not an easy thing to encounter Barcelona for three consecutive years, but it happened."
In fact, Chelsea's lack of UEFA points is also related to the fact that they were eliminated by Barcelona in the process of scoring 8 of 16 last season, but this time, they were drawn in the same group as Barcelona again in the draw.
This is the second year in a row that Chelsea have been in the same group as the defending champions. ‘
After finishing the interview work, some media laughed and said, "In the English league, Wansheng and Mourinho are fighting non-stop, and they are absolute mortal enemies. But when it came to the Champions League, the two actually joined forces tacitly... "(To be continued~^~)