Chapter 169 Super Death Group

It has almost become a routine that Monaco will become the focus of attention of fans all over the world in late August and early September every year.

It is not because of the European Super Cup, but because of the first round group draw ceremony of the European Champions League.

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

It is obvious that UEFA's hype and publicity for the Champions League, to a large extent, is borrowed from the conventional hype techniques of some Hollywood blockbusters. This is not surprising, because for the sport of football, the annual European Champions Cup group draw ceremony is itself a blockbuster.

This year's hot news is mainly in Serie A. Juventus, who won the Serie A championship, was treated as a seeded team in the first round of the Champions League group stage. This is somewhat controversial. After all, Juventus's performance in the Champions League in the past few years has not been very ideal, especially after the expansion of the Champions League, Juventus has never played in the knockout stage.

AC Milan, which is in the same situation as Juventus, or even worse, is likely to fall to the fourth tier this season, which makes this year's Champions League draw very mysterious, as can be seen from the tiers before the draw.

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

If the first-tier seeded teams themselves represent the most powerful group of giants in European football, then the second-tier teams such as Roma, Deportivo La Coruna, Leverkusen, Liverpool, etc. represent the strength of major European leagues. Any of them has the strength to challenge the seeded teams.

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

Many people think that this team should be placed in the top two tiers. The reason is simple. Ajax has passed the UEFA Cup two years ago and the semi-finals of the Champions League last year, proving its strength to everyone. However, due to points and various factors, Ajax can only be ranked in the third tier in the end.

As Ye Qiu said in a pre-match media interview about the team's tiering, "We don't mind who we draw, because it's the same for us. What we should mind is our opponents. I dare to guarantee that the 16 teams in the top two tiers don't want to face us!"

The first and second tiers are already very strong and competitive teams. According to the previous tiering of the Champions League, the first two tiers are also the favorites to qualify from the group. But if the teams in the third tier have the strength to challenge the first two tiers, wouldn't it become the group of death?

For Ajax, it doesn't matter. Anyway, since they were assigned to the third tier, they are destined to enter the group of death with powerful opponents. Not only Ajax, but also Newcastle, Dortmund and other teams are destined to meet strong opponents.

But what is more worrying is that AC Milan appeared in the fourth tier.

As analyzed by L'Equipe, Ajax in the third tier and AC Milan in the fourth tier are definitely teams that no team wants to face, because no one wants to fight with such strong opponents to compete for the qualification.

Some head coaches and club officials of the first and second tier teams also complained that UEFA's tiering was unreasonable, believing that some teams in the first and second tiers, such as Galatasaray and Lyon, were not as strong as Ajax and AC Milan, but were divided into the first two tiers, while these two teams with superior strength were divided into the third and fourth tiers.

"This makes us wonder if someone wants to arrange a shocking draw result through this tiering?"

Before the draw ceremony, this news had exploded in the media around the world and caused a huge discussion. Almost even ordinary fans were arguing about whether the tiering of Ajax and AC Milan was reasonable, whether UEFA's tiering method was reasonable, and a series of other topics.

After earning enough hype and publicity from the media around the world and attracting enough attention from the fans, the draw ceremony finally came late amidst the anticipation of the crowd, but the result of the draw surprised everyone.

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When the guest of the draw took out the note from the small ball and shouted out AC Milan through the microphone, the entire conference center was in a dead silence, followed by a deafening uproar.

Everyone was shocked by UEFA's big move, even the parties involved.

Ye Qiu sat in a row at the back. His helpless expression of shaking his head and smiling bitterly was clearly captured by the live camera on the scene and was put on the big screen in the middle of the conference center. Everyone could see everything written on the face of the young Chinese head coach.

He and his Ajax seemed to be puppets manipulated by others, at the mercy of others. Not only him, but all the head coaches and all the teams present, even the high-ranking wealthy teams, could not escape the fate of being manipulated by others.

Bayern Munich, Deportivo La Coruna, Ajax and AC Milan!

This is definitely the group of death among the groups of death, because these four teams are the strongest teams in the European arena in recent years. Bayern Munich is needless to say, Deportivo La Coruna is in the Super La Coruna era, and Ajax and AC Milan are both in a strong revival stage. Putting these four teams in the same group, won't they fight to the death?

Looking at the draws of other teams, Barcelona is so lucky, Galatasaray, Lokomotiv Moscow and Club Brugge, Juventus is also very lucky, Feyenoord, Dynamo Kyiv and Newcastle, Manchester United Then they met Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiacos and Maccabi Haifa.

It can be said that the situation of the other groups is relatively clear. Even in the group of Arsenal, Eindhoven, 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 striving for the right to qualify for the group. They are also strong teams with certain appeal and influence in European football. But now they are placed in the same group. It can’t just be a tragedy or a comedy.

"In the next few months, UEFA will definitely focus on promoting your group!"

Eliza, who accompanied Ye Qiu to attend the lottery ceremony, sat next to him. Her keen sense of smell allowed her to immediately detect what UEFA was thinking, because if the strength of each group was very different, they would all If the suspense is lost, it will be difficult to attract the attention of fans in the Champions League group stage, and it will be difficult to create a 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 also need luck, the luck of the draw!" Ye Qiu laughed and shook his head. He soon felt relieved, because this is European football in itself. part of the rules.

You must complain, 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 terms of Champions League results, they have benefited in other aspects, such as off-field attention and influence, and UEFA has also It’s impossible to give you small shoes every year. What I lose this year will be compensated for next year.”

Eliza has a thorough understanding of this set of unspoken rules, but to achieve this, the prerequisite 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 I've had bad luck in the lottery for two consecutive years?" Ye Qiu shook his head and smiled bitterly.

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

Ye Qiu hummed and smiled, but said nothing, but he was not convinced in his heart, but he also knew that this was reality.

With the draw ceremony over, the schedule is also listed. Ajax's first game in the first round of the Champions League group stage is an away game against AC Milan, then a home game against Bayern Munich, and then an away game against Deportivo La Coruña.

"What? After seeing the lottery results, are you a little less confident?" Eliza smiled and gently bumped Ye Qiu's arm with her elbow.

Ye Qiu turned his head and smiled, "No confidence? 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 declined? Afraid of an aging team? AC Milan? Afraid of the so-called Super Deportivo?”

He was afraid but not afraid. Ever since he knew that the team was assigned to the third tier, Ye Qiu had been psychologically prepared for the death group. But now that he had drawn three strong opponents, he felt that this was too unlucky.

"We'll see, I will definitely step on their corpses and get out of the death group!"

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If the lottery ceremony only taught Ye Qiu one truth, that is, the four major leagues are the core of European football, then at the awards ceremony, Ye Qiu truly understood that the wealthy clubs are the protagonists of European football.

The best goalkeeper, Kahn from Bayern, and Ajax's veteran goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar even ranked behind Juventus' Buffon.

According to Van der Sar's performance last season, and Ajax reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, the old goalkeeper's performance is definitely better than Buffon, but he is the Serie A champion of the four major leagues, and Kahn His performance last season was also very outstanding, because Ye Qiu really had nothing to say about this award.

The best defender didn't matter to Ajax at all. 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 get it? Are the Brazilian central defenders worse than them?

The best midfielder was Leverkusen's Ballack, Manchester United's Roy Keane, Arsenal's Vieira ranked second and third respectively, but Ajax still had nothing to do with it.

The same goes for the best forwards, with Raul, Trezeguet and Van Nistelrooy taking the top three respectively.

Most Valuable Player is a showcase for wealthy players, but this time Ajax was mentioned, but it was a sad foil, because they were awarded the Most Valuable Player in the semifinals of last season. Real Madrid superstar Zidane scored an incredible goal.

Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy occupy second and third place 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 competition, but they didn’t even win one. I can’t even get into the awards.

Ajax's only award nomination was for the Best Coach Award, and Ye Qiu once again became the miserable second player in the millennium.

Last year it was Hitzfeld of Bayern Munich, this year it was Bosque of Real Madrid, and in the best coach award for the past two years, Ye Qiu ranked second, but he was the kind that was pulled very far away.

Why do all the players and all the head coaches want to go to the big clubs?

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

If you don't play for a big club, people don't even know your name, who will know you? Who will choose you?

"I should go back and sing a song!" Ye Qiu looked disappointed, but he was laughing.

"What song?" Eliza felt strange.

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

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

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

"Four teams with seeded strength are arranged in the same group to compete for two places. Is there anything more cruel than this? UEFA drew this super death group, pleasing fans who want to see more strong dialogues, but cruelly torturing these four teams with outstanding strength."

There is no lack of sympathy for these four poor teams trapped in the super death group in the media's comments, but these four teams are not grateful at all, and no one is willing to show weakness in advance.

Hitzfeld said in an interview, "This is not a bad draw. On the contrary, I think it is a good draw because we are facing some familiar teams. If we go to Kiev or Moscow in the snow in winter, I will have a headache."

AC Milan coach Ancelotti said, "This is a very tough group. Bayern Munich is the strongest team in Europe, Ajax is a formidable opponent, and Deportivo La Coruna is as high as ever. The strength is not bad at all, but we are not afraid. We have enough confidence to stand out from the group."

Super Deportivo coach Iroué Ta was equally optimistic about the appearance, "The strength of our group is very balanced. The other three teams are all great teams with very high levels. Drawing such opponents will definitely make the game more difficult, but we will go all out and will definitely 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, I will not be surprised or afraid, because in the Champions League, all teams are not simple and have superior strength. If we want to defeat our 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. We still have to start from the group stage now, and we still have to win one game after another. We are all ready, and we will definitely qualify from the group. ”

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

After the draw results were released, William Hill immediately updated the final odds of the top 32. Real Madrid is far ahead with 1 to 4.5, followed by Manchester United with 1 to 5, and Barcelona with 1 to 8.

From 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 line that has been criticized for many years. Therefore, it is not surprising that these three teams are the top three in odds.

Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Juventus are all 1 to 10, Inter Milan is 1 to 11, Liverpool and Roma are 1 to 1. The odds are 14 to 1, Valencia 1 to 16, Deportivo La Coruna 1 to 18, and AC Milan 1 to 20.

So, what about Ajax?

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

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

"If it is based on the performance of the defending champion of the Eredivisie in the past two seasons, the odds should be higher, and we even think that it should be within 20 to 1, but it is obvious that being assigned to the death group makes it difficult for more people to look favorably on this Eredivisie team, because everyone thinks that Ajax should strive for the third place in Group G and then continue to fight in the UEFA Cup. "

According to the analysis of some professionals, the offensive style of play shown by Ajax in the past two years and this season has made many people worried about this young team, because the Champions League has always focused on defense, and it is difficult to win the final by excessively pursuing offense.

"Everyone should remember that since Ajax defeated AC Milan to win the Champions League in the 1994/95 season, no team outside the four major leagues has ever won the Champions League, and since Ajax reached the final in the 1995/96 season, no team outside the four major leagues has ever reached the final. "

"We all have to admit one thing, that is, European football has completely changed, and the gap between the four major leagues and the non-four major leagues is constantly widening, especially since the Bosman Act came into effect, this phenomenon has become more obvious."

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