Volume 1: Heroes Come and Go, People Pay Attention Chapter 94 "Naples" (First Update, Please Vote for Me!)
Chapter 94 "Naples" (first update, please vote for me!)
In the weekend's league match with Bari, Mazzarri once again made a large rotation. Chen Yingxiong, Arshavin, Cassano and others did not appear in the starting lineup, and some people did not even follow the team to the away game.
However, Naples, who came on the bench, still performed very tenaciously. The substitute players were very motivated and scored three goals in the away game. Bari, who had no choice but to have the home advantage, also scored three goals. So the game ended up tied at 3:3.
Chen Yingxiong only got a chance to play in the last ten minutes. There was too little time left for him and he failed to score.
The Naples media and fans didn't take it to heart that the team suffered another defeat. What they are most concerned about now is what kind of draw Napoli can draw in the Champions League knockout draw ceremony.
After a successful group stage, Napoli fans have high hopes for the team's performance in the Champions League.
After finally finishing first in the group, you can get a good draw no matter what, and then go one step further in the Champions League knockout rounds, right?
With a draw, Naples returned to their own territory, and they did not care to regret the draw because the Champions League draw ceremony had arrived.
Mazzarri did not even return to Naples with the team, but rushed directly from Bari to Nyon, Switzerland, where UEFA is headquartered.
Traveling with him was Naples general manager Bigang.
Others who did not attend the event could follow the draw via television.
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Chen Yingxiong also sat in front of the TV, but instead of sitting in front of the TV at home, he was invited by Naples Provincial Television to the studio to watch the lottery ceremony. This is a special program organized by Naples Provincial Television. While chatting with Naples players, you can watch the live broadcast.
The person hosting this special program is no longer the original host Antonella Canali. She has resigned and gone to TV 4 in Milan, which has a much more promising future than Naples Provincial TV.
Now the beauty partnering with the original male host has been replaced by a young and beautiful woman. I believe it will not be long before the locals in Naples will call this newcomer the "Naples Sexy Goddess". The title is always the same, but people can change it at will. Men are forgetful creatures, especially after having a new love.
When the young rookie saw Chen Yingxiong walking into the studio with his teammates Cassano, Hamsik, and captain Paul Cannavaro, his eyes visibly lit up. Chen Yingxiong could even see her blinking at him.
Cassano touched Chen Yingxiong's arm: "Hero, hehe."
Apparently he saw it too.
Chen Yingxiong glanced at him: "If you are interested, I can help you contact Antonio."
Cassano shook his head quickly, looked like a gentleman, and said in a low voice: "I have Carolina!"
Chen Yingxiong rolled his eyes. Ignore this useless friend.
He smiled at the newcomer who winked at him. This was just out of politeness, but unexpectedly, he made the other person think that Chen Yingxiong was also interested in him. As a result, he kept ogling Chen Yingxiong during the subsequent live broadcast of the show.
It's a pity that Chen Yingxiong stopped paying attention to her eyebrows after that...
Before the draw ceremony officially started, the male hosts interviewed several Naples players participating in the show one by one, just like a normal interview show.
Of course, the topic is still relatively time-sensitive and revolves around recent events. For example, Chen Yingxiong won the European Golden Boy Award, and the results of the draw.
The host also had a small interaction, asking the four players to write down the opponents they most hoped to encounter in the quarter-finals and the opponents they least expected to encounter.
The answers written by everyone are different, but in short, the opponents they most want to encounter are as weak as possible, and the opponents they least want to encounter are strong teams. This is easy to understand. Only when they encounter weak teams can they have more opportunities to go further in the Champions League knockout rounds.
Chen Yingxiong is an exception. He wrote "whatever".
"Is there such a team as 'Whatever'?" the new beauty host interjected, thinking she had a charming smile. She said something that was actually not funny but was just pretending to be silly and cute. But the male viewers in front of the TV still just accept this...
The male host also had to laugh a few times to show that this sentence was really funny.
Chen Yingxiong didn't laugh, but just replied: "Of course not. I think it's the same with everyone. We have to win when we meet Olympiacos, and we also have to win when we meet Real Madrid..."
Cassano waved his hand and interrupted: "I don't want to run into Real Madrid..."
Real Madrid is the second most powerful team in the group. Because they were double beaten by AC Milan at home and away, their final group ranking was lower than AC Milan and became second in the group.
The current eight second-placed teams in the group are Bordeaux, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Porto, Lyon, Inter Milan, Stuttgart and Olympiacos. The second strongest group here is probably Manchester United, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
According to the principle that teams in the same league do not meet in the quarter-finals, Naples will definitely not be able to be divided with Inter Milan. In this way, only Manchester United and Real Madrid may be drawn.
Manchester United seemed to be still looking for a feeling after losing Cristiano Ronaldo, and their state was ups and downs. This was the main reason why they only finished second in the group. Instead, CSKA Moscow became first in that group, which surprised many experts.
This season, Real Madrid has two superstars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, as well as powerful players like Benzema. The frontcourt attack firepower is very powerful, which makes many people intimidated.
Meeting Real Madrid in the quarter-finals is definitely the last thing any group leader wants to happen.
The male host also smiled and said: "The probability of meeting Real Madrid is too low, and I don't think it is possible."
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Mazzarri sat at the draw, surrounded by managers and coaches from teams that had reached the knockout stages of the Champions League and Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup).
He was a little nervous.
According to the lottery procedure, the eight blue balls represent the second place in the eight groups and are put into the lottery pool. The first team to be drawn is the home team of the first knockout match, which means it plays at home first. The computer program will list all the first place players in the group that can play against the team according to the lottery rules, represented by a white ball, and put them into another lottery pool. According to the lottery rules, teams belonging to the same national football association will not be drawn together, teams in the same group will not be drawn together in the group stage, the first place in the group will not be drawn together, and the second place in the group will not be drawn together. They will be drawn together, so the teams that can be chosen are actually very limited.
The guests selected a team as the away team in the first game and faced off against the second team drawn first.
Then repeat the above process to draw the remaining six pairs, until there is only one group with the first place left, then there is no need to draw, and it will be directly assigned to the last vacant place in the group with the second place.
Taking Naples as an example, after being eliminated according to the Champions League draw rules, the only opponents they may encounter are Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Porto, Stuttgart and Olympiacos.
It seems that it is all operated by computer programs, and the guests randomly draw a small ball from the lottery pool and open it to see which team it is, so there is no possibility of cheating.
But for the rule makers and organizers UEFA, it is too easy to arrange some matchups. This has also been verified many times in previous Champions League draws. For the sake of commercial interests and TV broadcast gimmicks, UEFA can operate behind the scenes and arrange many strong dialogues in the first round. This can increase the attention of the Champions League and allow those commercial sponsor partners to get more advertising benefits. It can be said that it kills several birds with one stone.
Before the draw ceremony, some media had already revealed some matchup information. For example, Manchester United will face AC Milan, and Chelsea is likely to face Inter Milan. Because these two games are so exciting. AC Milan's Beckham comes from Manchester United and has a deep affection for Manchester United. He returns to Old Trafford on behalf of AC Milan. What a memorable game.
On the other side, Inter Milan's head coach Mourinho will also return to Stamford Bridge, which still loves him deeply. It’s also worth the hype and quite interesting.
Moreover, "Premier League vs Serie A" is also the Champions League show that Platini has been promoting since he came to power. Since he defeated Johansson and was elected as the new UEFA president in 2007, the collision between Premier League teams and Serie A teams in the Champions League knockout rounds has become more and more frequent, even to the point of "aesthetic fatigue".
Mazzarri feels that Naples is not a strong team, and there is no hype value or gimmick if they play against other strong teams. Therefore, it is unlikely that they will encounter a strong team in the first round. It may be a mid-level or even a bottom-level team. In this case, Naples can go further, perform better, and reach the quarterfinals... This will be considered an overfulfillment of the task. If you have better luck and the opponents you encounter in the quarterfinals are not strong, you can still enter the semifinals.
After entering the semi-finals, Mazzarri does not expect to encounter any weak teams. There is no weak team that can reach the semi-finals. But being able to reach the semi-finals is already a miracle, and he won't think more about it.
The first group drawn second was Stuttgart. Their game was the first quarter-finals, and their opponent was...
"Barcelona." The lottery guest held a piece of paper and read the name expressionlessly.
The camera quickly gave a close-up shot of representatives from both teams.
Barcelona coach Guardiola had a smile on his face and was very satisfied with the signing. Stuttgart is definitely not a strong team, and Barcelona will have no problem beating them. Barcelona's sporting director Begiristain acted as if nothing had happened and seemed very relaxed.
The Stuttgart club representative had a wry smile on his face and kept shaking his head, feeling helpless that he was drawn against Barcelona in the first round. Stuttgart only got the right to qualify in the last round of the group stage and is not very strong.
Representatives of other teams that were second in the group were obviously relieved - Barcelona was drawn out at the beginning, what does this mean? It shows that they don't have to worry about meeting Barcelona anymore.
The biggest thunder was stepped on by Stuttgart.
The TV broadcast also knew very well what the club representatives were thinking, so they gave close-ups of each of them and told the world about their relaxed expressions.
This highlights Barcelona's current position in Europe from the side - at the height of their power, no one wants to face them.
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"Stuttgart is really unlucky, ha!" Cassano couldn't help laughing after seeing the bitter smile on the face of the Stuttgart representative, a bit of gloating.
Like him, there were many Naples fans who were gloating about his misfortune. Now they feel more and more that they were right to try their best to win the first place in a group, otherwise maybe others will laugh at them now.
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Teams were drawn out one after another, and Chen Yingxiong and the others casually expressed some opinions on the drawn teams, such as "Bayern Munich is so lucky, they even got Olympiacos!" "It turned out to be AC Milan and Manchester United. …”
When Lyon was drawn together with CSKA Moscow, the four of them were stunned.
Among the eight teams that ranked first in the group, CSKA Moscow was recognized as the weakest. They also relied on their home court advantage and were only one point ahead of Manchester United to take first place in the group. It can be said that this group ranked first. One has a lot of luck involved.
Lyon and CSKA Moscow were drawn together, and it must be said that Lyon got a good draw.
Sure enough, Lyon's head coach Puel had a happy face. He had been on tenterhooks before, fearing that he would be drawn against strong teams like Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Arsenal. Who would have thought that in the end it would be CSKA Moscow? It was so unexpected!
Mazzarri was also stunned when he saw this result.
He didn't expect that Lyon would be ranked first in the weakest group... He frowned and glanced at the rostrum. Platini had no expression on his face and looked very serious.
I don’t know why, Mazzarri’s heart suddenly started beating wildly…
He had a bad feeling.
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Cassano whistled: "The result of the draw..." He shrugged, and everyone understood what he meant.
The result of this lottery is really intriguing.
But they didn't have much time to discuss the draw results because the draw for the next game had already begun.
Real Madrid, second in the group, was previously drawn in the fifth game, and has just been drawn in the fourth game, Lyon and CSKA Moscow.
Who will Real Madrid's opponent be?
According to the rules, there are only three teams left that can potentially meet Real Madrid - Chelsea, Naples and Arsenal. The odds of choosing one of the three...
Mazzarri watched the lottery guest put his hand into the lottery pool, and he couldn't help but clenched his hand, as if he had drawn the ball of fate.
The lottery guest fumbled around in the lottery pool for a while, and finally caught one of the white balls and took it out.
Who will be the poor guy to compete with Real Madrid, which has Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul, Casillas, and Benzema?
The guest unscrewed the ball, took out the note, unfolded it and showed it to the camera, and read out the name on it.
"Naples."
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ps, the first update is here!
By the way, we don’t know if there will be double *** at the end of this month. It seems that we haven’t heard of it so far?
Anyway, the editor didn’t tell me…
But I still have to ask everyone for tickets!
Because it’s the end of the month, do you still have some food left in your hands?
Three consecutive days of outbreaks, dear!
Aren't you all interested?