There is a dream called football

Chapter 399 Champions League Draw
Every time the Champions League draws, the famous bald Infantino will appear, and this time is no exception.

Li Qiao remembers that before he later became the president of FIFA, people's strongest memory of him was the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony.

At the beginning of the drawing ceremony, there was a cultural performance first. Because the UEFA Champions League final was held in Greece this season, the cultural performance had a strong flavor of Greek art, and the singers invited were also Greek.

After the cultural performance, there was a review of last season, focusing on the two final opponents of Barcelona and Arsenal.

The first is a 5-minute short piece about Barcelona, ​​starting from the group stage, and recording Barcelona's promotion step by step.

Then there is Arsenal's road to promotion, which will be a little more difficult, especially the game against Real Madrid.

In the end, it was the two teams meeting at the Stade de France to fight for the final crown, and then there was the big battle a few months ago.

At the end of the war, it was Henry who lifted the trophy. At this moment, the dream came into reality. On the big screen, it was Henry who lifted the trophy. When the lights were on, it was Henry who lifted the trophy and came to the scene. If you watch the broadcast, the picture is seamless.

Henry held the trophy, walked into the scene with a smile, and then handed the trophy back to Infantino, and the new season began.

"This is the story of last season. It was very exciting. The final champion belonged to Arsenal, and the story of this season is about to begin. What do you pay attention to? The group of death? Or who is the unlucky one and who will be the lucky one."

"So who will be the champion in Greece next year?"

"I know everyone is looking forward to it, but it needs to wait. We will do the annual review again at this time next year. I think everything will be very exciting."

The details of the lottery ceremony are very complicated, but there are actually only a few major rules. The first is that teams from the same country are avoided, and the second is that the teams are divided into four grades and drawn out in turn.

The first thing is to determine the ownership of the first team. The 8 groups are in their positions. This is the most boring part, because unlike the World Cup, after qualifying for the Champions League group stage, there is still a draw for the quarter-finals. So which group you are in has no effect on the subsequent games.

Arsenal were in Pot [-] and ended up in Group G.

Then the second tier of teams will be drawn, and there will be some suspense in this link, because the second tier of teams is the embryonic form of creating the death group.

Under normal circumstances, the strength of the second-tier teams is not much different from the first-tier teams, and there are even stronger ones, which are caused by points.

Like the national team rankings, it is based on points, and everyone knows that points are a big thing. The difficulty of scoring three points in the Bundesliga is definitely different from other leagues.

Wenger prayed in his heart that the opponent in the second tier should not be a team in the five major leagues, otherwise it will be very difficult.

This link is also the time for Infantino to give full play to his humor and talents. Like a stand-up show actor, he sometimes jokes and sometimes creates suspense. After all, the one-hour lottery ceremony is a bit boring.

Chelsea and Barcelona, ​​the embryonic form of the first death group has emerged, and the two teams are old enemies. Many people even say that the draw is made. How could Chelsea always touch Barcelona.

Maybe, but Chelsea and Barcelona again, and Mourinho and Rijkaard again.

Then Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Group B also had a strong dialogue. There are many things to watch. This is also a group that is likely to become a death group.

The other is Group D. Roma and Valencia are also two teams with very close strengths. This may also be a weakened version of the death group.

Finally came to Group G, Arsenal's group, there are actually not many strong teams left at this time, which may also be an advantage of being assigned to the latter group.

Porto.

When the lottery guests announced the result of the lottery, Infantino chuckled, "The defending champion drew a good lottery."

But Wenger doesn't think so. Although Porto at this time does not have the strength of Mourinho's era, it is still one of the European powers, especially in Portugal, which is a dominant team.

Of course, there is no problem with Arsenal being stronger than their opponents. Wenger is just worried that his opponents will cause trouble for him, but it should not be possible to become a roadblock.

In the third gear, the real group of death should be said to be born, which is the biggest attraction.

In addition to Barcelona and Chelsea in Group A, the third team is Werder Bremen. In this way, there is no problem in this group. Barcelona and Chelsea still have a clear advantage.

Group B has become the group of death, and the third team is Ronaldo's mother team-Sporting Lisbon.

This is not a weak team, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon, everyone has a strong team, so this game is not easy to play.

There were no major surprises in the next group, with clear strengths and weaknesses. In Group G, this is also the biggest attraction, because there is no Premier League team in the third tier. In theory, there are many potential opponents for Arsenal.

"Hamburger."

Bundesliga teams.

Wenger breathed a sigh of relief.

Not bad, Wenger is more worried about drawing a team like Galatasaray, it will be more difficult to play.

At this point, Wenger's heart is stable, and the last opponent is Russia's CSKA Moscow.

It’s hard to fly to Russia to play games, but there’s no way around it. Under normal circumstances, the fourth-tier teams must be from Eastern Europe. This is almost inevitable. It can only endure the cold Russian battle.

After the draw ceremony, according to the usual practice, Wenger was interviewed by reporters, after all, Arsenal is the defending champion.

The first question Wenger was asked was the curse of defending the Champions League. After the restructuring of the Champions League in 1992, no team could successfully defend the Champions League, not even Manchester United or Real Madrid.

"I know how fierce the competition is in the Champions League now, so I know it is difficult to defend the Champions League, but I also think that records are meant to be broken, maybe this season, at least I think so."

"But this year the strength of the team has dropped a lot."

Wenger chuckled, "I don't think so. Any team will change from old to new. We are just getting younger. Veterans need to leave, while young people will rise up, such as Van Persie and Walcott. They have all grown up."

"So I think we are fully capable of challenging the curse of defending the Champions League."

(End of this chapter)