Grass roots glory

Chapter 328 Sure enough, he is really a real father!
To understand why the German media is so obsessed with the difference between the first and second teams, look at the results of the 32 teams.

The first tier of rich teams gathered, Inter Milan, Barcelona, ​​Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon, except for Lyon, the others are all well-known giants in the Champions League.Schalke is not listed, which means that there is a high probability that the group stage will encounter a difficult bone.

Schalke is in the second tier. The good news is that they will not meet Real Madrid and Roma in the group stage.

And the third-tier teams are not lacking in spoilers.The Premier League powerhouse Tottenham Hotspur, last season's Europa League champion Atletico Madrid, and the traditional Eredivisie giants Ajax, these three teams are definitely not the first or second tier teams want to meet.

Although the overall strength of the fourth gear is not strong, the teams like Twente and Ruby Kazan are by no means super fishy that can be manipulated casually.

The situation of Schalke in the second gear can be said to be extremely unfavorable. There are strong enemies in front and hidden thunder in the back. If you are unlucky, you may fall into the fight of the death group.

Lyon, who is in first gear, has no such worries.Now that they are all recommended to the first gear, they will naturally be "arranged" by teams like Shakhtar Donetsk and Marseille, and will not run into strong teams like Real Madrid and Roma.

At least the German media thinks so, there are people in North Korea and China who are easy to handle, this sentence is applicable anywhere in the world.

Since the German media raised such doubts, the war of words between them and the French media has not stopped. "Team Daily" stated in a counterattack article: "This is simply a slander out of nothing. The defending champion must enjoy the seed team. Treatment? The Germans’ so-called awareness of rules is based on their own interests.”

The German media is very clever and did not insist on arguing on such unreasonable issues. The most important thing is to spread their influence and gather the focus of the entire European media.

Although Europe is the football palace with the highest level of competition in the world, the crows are as black as the crows in the upper level.The AFC can be controlled by local tyrants in the Middle East and become a game for West Asian teams, and UEFA is similar.Especially after Platini took office as UEFA president, there have been controversies about him from time to time.

Previously, Platini had publicly stated that he admired Barcelona's style very much, and the overall pass control represented the advanced trend of football development.These words have stimulated the English media, which advocates the style of power impact, and Barcelona has almost gone smoothly from the group stage every season, so the "godfather theory" about "Platini is Barcelona's godfather" has been going on. European football is very marketable.

"Bild" seized this opportunity and wrote on the front page "Secret! Platini's two sons": "Our respected Mr. Platini really has a deep network, and there are differences between relatives and estrangements. This class is done very artistically, even Barcelona does not guarantee the Champions League champion every year..."

The direction of these remarks is obvious. Platini's treatment of Lyon is better than that of Barcelona. If Barcelona only takes care of the specific operation of the draw every year, this is the standard of "god son". The son's treatment is directly taken care of from the rules.

This statement has been echoed by many media.The English media are the most active. After all, fans all over the world know their temperament.In addition, The Telegraph, the most influential newspaper in the Netherlands, also stood up to support them. They also felt that they were victims. Not drawn in the Champions League.

But the root of the problems of the Eredivisie teams is different, which is the reason for their own strength.Think back to Ajax in the golden generation of 95, when they could dominate Europe, they never paid attention to who their opponents were in the group stage.Of course, the Dutch media themselves would not think so.

Perhaps because of the intensifying trend of such statements, UEFA couldn't sit still anymore. The official spokesperson specifically stood up and stated: "We respect every team participating in the Champions League. They are the top European football teams. We have always treated strong players equally, and in the upcoming draw ceremony, all media with doubts will see a fair and just answer."

……

This season's Champions League draw still attracts the attention of the European media, but the German media who pay attention to the Champions League draw is obviously more than before. See if the so-called "fair and just result" really lives up to its name.

After the results came out, the European media immediately went into an uproar.

Schalke is divided into Group B, the same group of teams has the Danish Super League champion Copenhagen, the Israeli champion Tel Aviv workers, and - Lyon!
That's right, the "weakest seeded team" Lyon and Schalke 04 are in the same group.

When Schalke and Lyon fell into the same group, UEFA Secretary-General David Taylor, who presided over the draw, showed a smile, which was very meaningful-didn't you say that Lyon is the son of President Platini?We put this team and the defending champion together, you can't say anything, can you?
However, UEFA did this to make it appear that there is no silver 300 taels here. Their purpose is to avoid suspicion, but the media is so shrewd. It is not difficult to see the tricks in the four teams in Group B.

The reason is simple, the teams in the third and fourth tiers are too weak!The Danish champion Copenhagen is not ranked at all in Europe and belongs to the weakest third-tier team.And the fourth tier of Tel Aviv workers from Israel is even more of a fish belly. I am afraid that even industry experts who study European football cannot tell the level of strength of the Israeli league.

This kind of grouping seems to be very beneficial to Schalke, but it is also beneficial to Lyon. UEFA is more like finding a balance, pulling in the defending champion, and then using the weakest teams in the third and fourth tiers. The teams make up the number.Even if Lyon is not ranked at the top level in Europe, it still has a clear advantage in terms of strength against these two big players.Such a grouping is almost a walk to the Lyon group to qualify!
Of course, it is not difficult for Schalke to qualify for the group stage, but no one thinks that the defending champion will fall in the group stage, so all the focus is on Lyon.

However, UEFA's strategy is so clumsy that the media can see through it almost at a glance.

It is useless to argue about anything now, but the Chinese media summed it up in one sentence.

It really is my dear father!He really loves his son like a mountain...

PS: Some adjustments have been made to the Champions League grouping here. In reality, Schalke was the third team in the 10-11 season. I thought about it and adjusted it up.

After all, the defending champion of the Champions League is only ranked third, which seems really unreasonable.

(End of this chapter)