Chapter 413 Before and After Christmas
The second day after the match between Manchester City and Lyon, the sixth round of the UEFA Champions League group stage was fully concluded, and the rankings of each group were also determined.
According to the rules of the UEFA Champions League, the top two teams in the group automatically advance to the top 16 of the UEFA Champions League and officially enter the knockout stage, while the third place falls to participate in the UEFA Cup round of 32.
The teams that qualified first in the group are: AC Milan and Inter Milan in Serie A, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United in the Premier League, and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla in La Liga.
The second qualifying group is Bundesliga Schalke 04, Ligue 1 Lyon, Greek team Olympiacos, Soviet Super League Celtic, Premier League Liverpool, Turkish League Fenerbahce, Portuguese Super League Porto and Serie A Roma.
The above list is enough to make the Italian, English and Spanish media rejoice and say, "The three major European leagues (Serie A, Premier League, La Liga) have a comprehensive advantage in the Champions League competition!"
The end of the Champions League group stage is the draw for the round of 16.
The next day, Wansheng went to Zurich, Switzerland, along with Sinar and Bi Knicks, to participate in the draw for the Champions League round of 16.
In front of the venue, Wan Sheng was interviewed by the media.
When asked by the media about the team Wansheng hopes to meet, Wansheng just smiled and said, "I hope to meet AC Milan, we were eliminated last season, and our players want to win it back. However, the round of 16 is not Maybe AC Milan, nothing else matters."
Wan Sheng's words rarely get unanimous approval.
Among the top 16 teams in the UEFA Champions League, only Liverpool and Lyon appear as strong teams in the group, and Roma can only be counted as half. It is difficult for other teams to pose a threat to Manchester City. Avoiding the rules of the same country and the same group', Manchester City will not face Liverpool and Lyon. After staggering the two strong teams, it doesn't matter which team is drawn.
After that, Wan Sheng entered the venue and waited for the draw ceremony to start. He was arranged to sit next to Ferguson.
The coaches of the two Premier League teams are arranged to sit together, but Wan Sheng and Ferguson are not only mortal enemies on the team, but also enemies in personal life.
Many media pointed the camera lens over, and what they could capture was the picture of the two people treating each other as air.
Wan Sheng was talking to others, and Ferguson was talking to others. There seemed to be an invisible barrier between the two, and they didn't even turn their heads to look at each other.
This awkward atmosphere did not end until the lottery ceremony began.
The newly appointed UEFA President Platini came to the stage to give a speech, which was nothing more than some official speeches. opponent.
AC Milan's opponent is Schalke 04.
Chelsea's opponent is Olympiacos.
Seeing that Chelsea's opponent was Olympiacos, Chelsea coach Grant laughed immediately, and many cameras pointed to the past.
This is without a doubt a sign up.
After Chelsea drew the death sign for several consecutive years, the current coach has become Grant, who got such a good sign in the first Champions League rematch.
As the ENPS TV commentator who broadcasted the draw ceremony said, "Olympiacos is not enough to pose any threat to Chelsea in terms of experience and strength. Grant's Chelsea has been running, and it is very hopeful to easily reach the quarter-finals. In the past two months, many of the main injured players in the Blues team will all return to the team at that time. When the knockout matches start, we will see a neat lineup and the "Ruble Legion" of the three armies."
After that, the drawing ceremony continued, and the new guests helped Barcelona and Manchester City draw their opponents.
Barcelona drew Porto.
Manchester City's opponent is Celtic.
Wan Sheng also laughed.
When the camera pointed over, Wan Sheng was still waving at the camera with an excited look on his face. At the same time, Celtic coach Strachan also looked over. The two looked at each other. Rakan's face was obviously darkened.
In fact, for Manchester City, it is difficult for the six opponents they may encounter to pose a threat to the regional team, but from the perspective of those six teams, the team they least want to encounter is undoubtedly AC Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United and Manchester City.
It can be seen from the odds of European bookmakers that these four teams have the greatest hope of winning the championship, and they are also recognized as the most powerful teams. In comparison, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Sevilla and Real Madrid Have to deal with it better.
When Celtic met Manchester City, it was a sign for them.
Next, the lottery ceremony continued, and the final round of 16 knockout match had the result--
AC Milan vs Schalke 04
Chelsea vs Olympiacos
Manchester City vs Celtic
Barcelona vs Porto
Sevilla vs Fenerbahce
Inter vs Liverpool
Real Madrid vs Roma
Manchester United vs Lyon
After the results of the draw came out, the Germans and the French were undoubtedly very disappointed. There was only one team left in both countries. Lyon, France, met Manchester United, and Schalke 04 had to compete with AC Milan. Their hopes of promotion have changed. slim.
In fact, the Germans are better. Schalke 04 barely qualified, which is a little hope for German football. Before, they thought that none of the three German teams would enter the round of 16.
The French are different.
Even if Lyon drew with Manchester City in the last round, they still had great hope of qualifying, but they encountered Manchester United the last time they wanted to meet in the round of 16, because in the history of the UEFA Champions League, Lyon challenged Manchester United twice and failed to win. In the second encounter with Manchester United, Lyon may also be in a bad way. In the face of the luxurious army created by Rooney, C-Ronaldo and others, the only player in Lyon’s team is the rookie Benzema. The strength of the two sides is no longer the same level. French Football believes that "Lyon, which has been stagnant in the Champions League in recent years, is likely to hate the quarter-finals again."
Compared with Manchester United, which won 5 wins and 1 draw in the group stage and easily qualified for the group stage, Lyon's road to qualifying for the group stage is very bumpy.
They were almost suppressed by Glasgow Wanderers, and the game against Manchester City was not at all dominant. After the two-game losing streak at the beginning, they were able to make a thrilling promotion by relying on their strength in the later stage. It is really difficult for them to upset Manchester United. .
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Of course, the difficulties of the Germans and French have nothing to do with Wansheng. Manchester City drew Celtic, which is a good opponent, so Wansheng returned to Manchester with ease.
But Manchester City's schedule is not easy.
The day after returning to Manchester, Manchester City ushered in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, where the team faced Tottenham Hotspur at home.
This is Manchester City's third game in a week.
Even after two rotations, the team's state is still affected a lot. Considering the state of the players, Wansheng still let Ozil, Darren Bent, Koppelle Ferreira and others rest for a while. Players such as Berry, Sun Jihai and Giovanni Mauricio got their chance.
In the end, after 90 minutes of difficult competition, Manchester City defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2:1 and advanced to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
This game was not easy to play.
Although Manchester City easily defeated Tottenham Hotspur in the league at White Hart Lane, it also gave Tottenham Hotspur some experience of playing against Manchester City, plus Manchester City did not play the full main lineup , The performance of the strength has been greatly affected, and it is not easy to defeat Tottenham.
Fortunately, Torres did well.
Since October, with the adaptation to the team and the Premier League, Torres has been performing well. He frequently scored goals in the league and the Champions League, and his performance is no weaker than Darren Bent.
Perhaps it is also the competition between the two, which causes both of them to try their best to perform, so whenever they play, they can perform well.
This is what Wansheng wants to see.
Torres scored one goal, and the other goal was also closely related to him. The team's ability to beat Tottenham Hotspur in 90 minutes was directly related to Torres' performance.
So after the game, Wansheng brought Torres to the press conference and praised his performance.
"I knew in the summer that Fernando would be the most important player in the team, and now I'm very happy to see that he can perform well."
"Many people are complimenting him, but in fact, I'm not surprised that he can perform now. He is really capable."
There are very few players who can be praised by Wansheng so much, so Torres looks very happy after being praised. For him, Wansheng's praise is an affirmation outside the game, which will make him more confident.
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After the League Cup, City had no time to look back on the victory, or even think about Christmas, the only thing they could do was play game after game.
Two days later, Manchester City ushered in a new round of the league. In the end, they defeated Aston Villa 2:1 away. The team continued to remain unbeaten in the league, and their unbeaten games reached 56 rounds.
On Christmas Day, Manchester City had a rare day off. Wan Sheng did nothing but was bored at home for a day. The only thing worth mentioning was the two-hour phone conversation with Anita. Other than that, it was no different from usual.
The Christmas atmosphere in Manchester seems to have nothing to do with Wansheng and the entire Manchester City team. One day after Christmas, the team resumed training and ushered in a new round of games on the 26th the next day--Home vs. Black Book.
There are no surprises in this game.
Wansheng hopes that the team will have a good start to the new year, and all Manchester City players have also concentrated on playing this game well.
3:1.
Although a goal was conceded, it also happened at the end of the game. Manchester City maintained their suppression of Blackburn in the whole game, and the opponent had no power to fight back.
After the 19th round of the league, the atmosphere of the Christmas battle also warmed up, because Manchester City is about to usher in the 20th round, which is what the media said, the "Reincarnation Curse" and Chelsea's game. (To be continued ~^~)