Chapter 68 The 10 Strongest People

After the group draw ceremony, there will be an awards ceremony, where the best player of the European club last season will be awarded.

This award was established last year with the intention of restoring the selection of the European Ballon d'Or in the past and competing with FIFA's Ballon d'Or. This is an initiative of UEFA President Platini after the European Ballon d'Or was included in FIFA.

The European Club Player of the Year award is selected by reporters from fifty-three European countries in the first round of voting to select the top three players, who are shortlisted to the final round of voting, and then selected by live instant voting at the award ceremony. Best player.

This award is not limited to nationality, as long as the player plays for a club affiliated with a UEFA member country, and the player's performance in domestic, international, club, and national team competitions will be taken into consideration.

During the first European Club Player of the Year selection last year, Zhou Yi was the only Chinese player selected for the candidate list. He ultimately ranked 27th in this selection, far away from the top three.

This time, he is no longer the only Chinese player selected. Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Sun Pan is also among them with his outstanding performance in La Liga and the Europa League.

But this time, nothing happened to them.

Zhou Yi didn't even have to go to the scene because he didn't make the final list of three people. Although his performance in Dortmund was very good, compared with the three people who made the final list, he still lacked a little convincing.

The three finalists are Barcelona's Andres Iniesta and Messi, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Real Madrid.

These three people are the three best players in today's football. There is no doubt and no dispute about this.

Zhou Yi still has a long way to go to become one of the three best stars in the world. Of course he is still young...

Although Chelsea won the Champions League last season, no Chelsea player made it into the three-man list in this selection. Because this is not the selection of the Champions League's own players, but the best players in various events throughout the season.

Although Barcelona was eliminated by Dortmund and Real Madrid was eliminated by Bayern Munich, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were so dazzling that it was normal to be selected for the final list.

Iniesta has also been favored by reporters for his irreplaceable importance in Barcelona.

Before the final results were announced, the three candidates were invited to the stage one after another.

The host conducted brief interviews with Iniesta, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

When asking about the Portuguese, the host asked a question that made the audience burst into laughter. She asked: "Cristiano, what do you think of Real Madrid's group results in the Champions League this season?"

This question is usually asked by reporters after the draw and awards are over. Unexpectedly, the host directly appeared as a reporter and asked this question in front of everyone.

It's clear that everyone is interested in one of the most horrific death squads of all time.

Amid everyone's laughter, the Portuguese shook his head with a helpless smile on his face. Then he faced the host's microphone, shrugged and said: "This group is indeed difficult to play, and every opponent is very strong. However, as the La Liga champion last season, we have the confidence and ability to face the challenges of any strong opponent. "

This answer sounds quite satisfactory at first glance, but in fact, after careful consideration, it still reveals the ambition and confidence of the Portuguese. Because he used a word - "challenge", who will generally be challenged? Of course, only those with the strongest strength and the highest status will face challenges. In other words, in his opinion, Real Madrid is the strongest in this group.

Today, the beautiful host seemed to be deliberately causing trouble. After asking Cristiano Ronaldo, she turned the microphone to Messi next to the Portuguese, but the question she asked Messi had nothing to do with Barcelona, ​​but with Real Madrid. She asked : "So Leo, as a Barcelona player, how do you see Real Madrid being assigned to the group of death?"

Beautiful women always have privileges. If such a question had been asked by a middle-aged man with a sloping head and obesity, Messi would have been silently rejected by Messi. But when the beautiful female host posed this question with a sly smile on her face, Messi was too embarrassed to refuse.

After everyone's laughter ended, he replied with a smile: "Everything can happen in the death group. I think in this level of competition, strength and luck are equally important."

This answer obviously does not answer the question. In fact, it is a manifestation of not wanting to answer the question directly.

The beautiful host knew how to give up when she was satisfied and did not continue to ask further questions.

At this point, the two people were bypassed and the interview ended.

Finally, there is live voting to announce the winning players.

Standing on the stage, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo looked like the protagonists, but neither of them was able to win this award. The final winner was the low-key Iniesta next to him.

This result also seems to indicate that the award for the European Club's Best Player is more professional than the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

When Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo monopolized the FIFA Ballon d'Or and its predecessor World Player of the Year selections, many people complained about Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder and others. Experts believe that these players are no less important than Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but the latter two have an advantage in the selection vote because they are more famous around the world.

For example, the 2010 World Footballer of the Year was finally awarded to Messi, but this result was controversial.

The 2010 FIFA Best Player Selection was the first after the merger of the World Footballer and the European Ballon d'Or. The votes were divided into three shares: the national team head coach, the national team captain and the media reporters each had one-third of the vote. This resulted in the more professional media voting in the minority, so in the end Messi, who was more famous, won the FIFA Ballon d'Or after the merger that year, which was also the World Footballer.

In 2010, Messi failed to achieve anything in club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. In the eyes of many professionals, he was basically a soybean in the selection of the best player of the year. Xavi, the double midfielder of the Spanish national team and Barcelona, ​​and Sneijder, the double midfielder of the Dutch national team and Inter Milan, are more qualified to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or than him.

Harvey led the Spanish national team to a historic World Cup victory in South Africa, while Sneijder not only led the Dutch national team to the World Cup finals for the third time in history, but also led Inter Milan to complete the Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League treble. The great deeds of the king.

As a result, Messi, who did not perform convincingly in the end, won the Ballon d'Or with greater fame.

This result attracted protests from many people, and this gave rise to Platini's idea of ​​restarting the European Ballon d'Or selection. Since the name "Golden Ball Award" already belongs to FIFA, UEFA renamed it "European Club Best Player Award". The trophy can no longer use the classic golden football shape, but becomes a Jersey style with arms raised.

2011 was the first time. Messi was finally elected with 39 votes. In the 2010-2011 season, Barcelona won the Champions League. Messi was the top scorer. This performance in winning this award was even better than a year ago. Much more convincing. There is another episode in this selection. That is, Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has always been confident but too high-profile and unlikable, only received a pitiful three votes in the final live voting. When this number of votes was exposed, it immediately attracted controversy The ridicule of many people who hated him. In China, the Portuguese star even received a nickname called "Luo Sanpiao"... which is also miserable enough.

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After the award ceremony, the final top ten rankings of the European Club Player of the Year Award announced by the media quickly appeared on the Internet.

What many Chinese fans and reporters did not expect was that they saw a familiar name among the top ten - Zhou Yi.

Yes, compared with ranking 27th a year ago, Zhou Yi has improved rapidly this year, almost like a rocket. He can be called a player who has made rapid progress in European football. He ended up finishing exactly 10th.

Ahead of him are Falcao in ninth place, Cech in eighth place, Drogba in seventh place, Casillas in sixth place, Xavi in ​​fifth place, and Peele in fourth place. Luo, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who tied for second place, and Iniesta who was ultimately elected the best player.

This list of ten people was selected by the most authoritative media reporters in Europe. In other words, these ten people are recognized by the authority as the ten strongest people in world football.

And Zhou Yi is one of the ten strongest people!

This really surprised Chinese fans and reporters. They knew that Zhou Yi was very powerful, but some people were always worried that it was because everyone was Chinese, so they would have some emotional points in their evaluation of Zhou Yi. But now it seems... Europeans The evaluation of Zhouyi is actually higher than many Chinese people imagined! (To be continued.)