tenth

After finishing the third round of the Premier League, Benitez has to consider the next fourth round of the Premier League, and at the same time he has to consider the draw ceremony of the UEFA Champions League this season.

At this time, the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Champions League have all ended, and now the top 32 players participating in the new season of the UEFA Champions League have all been produced, and it is time for the draw for the group stage.

This season's UEFA Champions League is somewhat different from the previous UEFA Champions League, because this is the first season of the UEFA Champions League under Platini's new Champions League policy.

Platini proposed that starting from the 2009-2010 season, there will be four rounds of qualifying rounds before the UEFA Champions League group stage (the fourth round is the play-off), all of which are home and away two-round knockout matches, to determine the other teams entering the group stage. Ten places.

There are two ways to participate in the qualifying competition, namely the championship way and the ranking way.The main purpose of splitting the qualifying rounds between the two paths is that teams that have reached the group stage via the Champions and Ranking paths will not meet in the group stage.Teams eliminated in the third qualifying round will advance to the UEFA Europa League play-off (fourth qualifying round).

In Platini's words, he did this in order to allow more national team teams to participate in the UEFA Champions League, a large family of European leagues, and to allow more Europeans to participate in this event. Come, while expanding the influence of the UEFA Champions League.

Such an increase in the number of participating countries will naturally reduce the number of participating countries in the past, which has caused dissatisfaction among many clubs.Of course, these clubs are the middle and lower clubs in the UEFA Champions League, because doing so actually harms their interests.

Originally, it is not easy for them to participate in the UEFA Champions League. Now that more competitors are coming in, isn't this damaging their interests?These small and medium-sized clubs have united to boycott UEFA's decision.

However, the five major European leagues and those giant clubs did not respond, because it would not affect their interests, and of course they would not participate in it.This is doomed, the opposition of those small and medium-sized clubs is impossible to succeed. In the end, Platini still took the lead and implemented his New Deal.

In fact, everyone understands Platini's intentions in doing this. He is trying to win over more people in a disguised form and solicit votes so that he can continue to be re-elected as UEFA president.Everyone is not a fool, who can't see the French guy's intentions?

In any case, the new policy of the UEFA Champions League has been implemented, and it has already started this season. Didn't the UEFA Champions League group stage play four qualifying rounds before this season?

Now that the top 32 of the UEFA Champions League have been produced, it is time for the UEFA Champions League group draw.

This season's UEFA Champions League group draw takes place at the Grimaldi Conference Center in Monte Carlo, Monaco.Liverpool coach Benitez led Qiu Ze, Reina, Fernando Torres and two assistants to Monte Carlo in Monaco.

Qiu Ze, Reina and Fernando Torres went to the UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony because Reina was one of the candidates for the best goalkeeper in the UEFA Champions League last season, and Qiu Ze was the best goalkeeper in the UEFA Champions League last season. One of the candidates for the best midfielder, Fernando Torres is naturally one of the candidates for the best striker in the UEFA Champions League last season.

Liverpool was one of the top four teams in the UEFA Champions League last season. They lost to the Red Devils Manchester United in the semi-finals and did not make it to the finals. Therefore, the chances of Qiu Ze being a man winning the prize should not be small Yes, but they still have to go, otherwise wouldn't this be a disgrace to UEFA?

Qiu Ze, Benitez and others came directly to Monte Carlo, Monaco that day. They went directly to the hotel booked by UEFA to rest, and then waited until the evening to directly attend the UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony for the new season.

Qiu Ze and the others were not the first to arrive, and it could even be said that they were the last to arrive. Many people arrived last night. Mental state is better.

After arriving at the hotel booked by UEFA, Qiu Ze certainly saw many acquaintances, who they would meet at least once a year.Along the way, Qiu Ze kept greeting these guys, and then Qiu Ze came to the Premier League under the leadership of Benitez.

Humans are social animals, and they gather together wherever they go.As soon as Benitez arrived, he chatted with Alex Ferguson, Wenger and others.Benitez also said hello to Chelsea's new coach Carno Ancelotti alone, and started chatting.

Carno Ancelotti has just come to the Premier League, and Benitez has come to England as a veteran. Naturally, there are many things to pay attention to his "junior" Carno Ancelotti.Carno? Ancelotti naturally accepted it with humility.

After coming to the Premier League, Carno Ancelotti felt a little uncomfortable at first. There is indeed a big gap between English football and Italian football. He also has a lot of doubts. With the help of the UEFA Champions League draw Opportunity, he naturally has to learn from these old fritters in the Premier League.

And Qiu Ze and others chatted with stars such as Wayne Rooney who also came from the Premier League. Although they were opponents, they even had conflicts on the court sometimes.But off the court, they are still more face-saving to each other, and they are more amiable.

Of course, unless it is the kind of guy with deep personal conflicts, most people are still willing to make friends.Therefore, these players from the Premier League still had a good chat.

At this time, Cristiano Ronaldo, who is now the top player of Real Madrid, came over, and he came to say hello to his former teammates and former coach Alex Ferguson.

Seeing Cristiano Ronaldo approaching, Wayne Rooney next to Qiu Ze grinned obviously, as if he hated Cristiano Ronaldo very much.Qiu Ze sighed inwardly. It seems that Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo really have deep conflicts.

Wayne Rooney did not hide his conflicts with Cristiano Ronaldo at all, and he was indifferent to the greeting of Cristiano Ronaldo.And Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to know this too, and chose to ignore Wayne Rooney directly. He chatted directly with Van der Sar and Berbatov and others.

Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo went up to say hello to Alex Ferguson.Seeing Cristiano Ronaldo approaching, Alex Ferguson was expressionless, but he was not like Wayne Rooney, Alex Ferguson is an old fritter, he responded to Cristiano No? Ronaldo, and asked how Cristiano Ronaldo is doing, how is he staying in Real Madrid?

Alex Ferguson cared as if he cared about an old friend who had been close to him for decades.This made Qiu Ze amazed. He couldn't believe that the relationship between these two people was as close as they showed, otherwise Cristiano Ronaldo would not have chosen to leave Manchester United.

It didn't take long for everyone to start heading to the restaurant.Because it's time for dinner. After dinner, everyone will rest for about half an hour before going to the Grimaldi Conference Center to participate in the UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony for the new season.

After eating, Qiu Ze, Benitez and others immediately went to the Grimaldi Conference Center. They were not the first batch of people who came here. When they walked in, the place was already crowded with people.Qiu Ze and Benitez also saw Alex Ferguson and others waving to them not far away.

Qiu Ze and Benitez didn't stop, they walked over quickly and sat down beside Alex Ferguson, chatting while waiting for the start of the group draw ceremony of this UEFA Champions League.

By this time, the 32 teams participating in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage have been produced. They have been divided into four different grades because of the points. Among them, the eight teams in the first grade are Barcelona, ​​Chelsea and Liverpool. , Manchester United, AC Milan, Arsenal, Sevilla and Bayern Munich.

The teams in the second tier are Lyon, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Porto, Alkmaar, Juventus and Rangers.

The eight teams in the third pot are Olympiacos, Marseille, Dynamo Kiev, Stuttgart, Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Bordeaux and Betaxis.

The eight teams in the fourth tier are Wolfsburg, Standard Liege, Maccabi Haifa, Zurich, Rubin Kazan, Uniria, Apollo and Debrezen.

Among the teams in the first tier, Sevilla is slightly weaker. The teams in the next tiers all hope to be in a group with Sevilla, so that they have more opportunities to get out of the group. qualifications.

In the second tier, there are several powerful teams. These are the opponents that the first tier teams don't want to face. They are Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Juventus. Team.Last season, their luck was not very good, how about this season?

There are also several good teams in the third tier, such as Stuttgart, Marseille, Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid. These teams have the strength, and they definitely have dark horse potential. The teams in the first tier Of course, I don't want to be in a group with them.

As for the fourth-tier teams, they are not very strong. This is caused by Platini's New Deal.This is also what makes many European fans dissatisfied. With the addition of these small teams, it is difficult to see a real group of death in the UEFA Champions League, which greatly reduces the strength of the UEFA Champions League group stage , The spectacle is also reduced, which affects the excitement of the UEFA Champions League.

Seeing these four divisions, Benitez was thinking, which teams would be more beneficial for Liverpool to draw.Although the strength of the Liverpool team is very strong now, Benitez still does not want to waste too much energy in the group stage. Of course, the opponents he encounters are as weak as possible.