Football: Invincible starting from krypton gold

Chapter 78

After being eliminated from the German Cup, Klopp breathed a sigh of relief. Without the interference of the German Cup, Mainz will be able to better prepare for the next game. The No.13 round of the league will start on October 10th. With six games left, a good position in the table before the winter break would be great for the season as a whole.

After the German Cup match, the Mainz team rested for a day, and then began to concentrate on preparing for the match against Bremen. However, for Mainz, before the start of the match against Bremen, there is another thing related to Mainz that is about to happen, that is, the UEFA Cup group draw ceremony held in Switzerland on October 10.

That night, Chen Xiao watched the lottery ceremony in his apartment through live TV.

According to the competition rules of the UEFA Cup, this time the 40 teams will be divided into 8 groups by lottery. The 5 teams in each group will start a single round of competition. Each team will participate in two home games and two away games, and then take the top three of each group to enter the top 24. The top 24 and the No. 8 of the 3 groups in the Champions Cup form the top 32 of the UEFA Cup knockout stage, and then catch teams and fight until the final champion is determined.

However, the mid-range teams from the leagues of various European countries are still very keen on the UEFA Cup, because it is an intercontinental game anyway, which is not a small income for the finances of these small teams. Officially, this income supports many mid-range teams in the league, that is, the so-called traditional strong teams in each league.

After decades of development, European leagues have formed their own closed loop. Teams of every class are indispensable, such as giants, strong teams, mid-lower teams, low-level clubs, etc. Take the Bundesliga as an example. Bayern is a giant and has long occupied the top two positions in the top league. Therefore, they dismiss the UEFA Cup because they have a better choice-the European Champions Cup. However, teams like Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund belong to the traditional strong teams, because they will occasionally come out to add a bit of trouble to Bayern, and they can often participate in the Champions League, but the final champion basically has nothing to do with them, but they have their own financial foundation.

In fact, Mainz officially has the opportunity to become a guest of the UEFA Cup because of players like Chen Xiao, otherwise it is estimated that it will be a round of the Bundesliga.

At this grouping ceremony, UEFA President Johansson said that the focus of UEFA in recent years is to strengthen the influence of the UEFA Cup and let the UEFA Cup show its own charm.Make it one of the major events in Europe again.

The draw for the UEFA Cup divided the 40 teams into 5 tiers, with 5 teams drawn in each round.

The basis for grading is based on the points of these 40 teams in the European war.

Mainz's 0 points in the European War has properly become the team in the fifth tier.

Then, under the auspices of the host and guests, the draw ceremony for the UEFA Cup officially began. First, the teams in the first tier of the 8 groups need to be drawn.

With the draw of lots by the guests on the scene, the first teams of the eight groups were determined, namely Glasgow Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, Sevilla, Parma, Blackburn, Ajax, Panathinaikos and Newcastle. The second, third, fourth and fifth teams were drawn successively.

The UEFA Cup group draw ended, and the grouping situation of each group is as follows:
Group A: Rangers, Auxerre, Livorno, Partizan Belgrade, Maccabi.

Group B: Tottenham, Bayer Leverkusen, Dynamo Bucharest, Club Brugge, Besiktas.

Group C: Sevilla, Alkmaar, Braga, Grasshoppers, Mainz.

Group D: Parma, Lens, Osasuna, Heerenveen, Odense.

Group E: Blackburn, Perugia, Feyenoord, Basel, Nancy.

Group F: Ajax, Sparta Prague, Espanyol, Vareghen, Vienna.

Group G: Panathinaikos, Paris Saint-Germain, Rapid Bucharest, Tel Aviv Workers, Boles.

Group H: Newcastle United, Fenerbahce, Palermo, Hertha Berlin, Celta Vigo.

There are a total of three teams from Germany participating in the UEFA Cup this time, namely Bayer Leverkusen in Group B, Mainz in Group C and Hertha Berlin in Group H. According to the grouping of these three groups, if there is no accident, Leverkusen will definitely get a place for promotion. Only Hertha Berlin and Mainz are in the most complicated group, and they cannot be taken lightly.

After the grouping ended, many German football media analyzed the UEFA Cup trip of these three teams.Most of the media think that there should be no problem for Mainz to get a promotion spot, but the disadvantage is that Mainz is the only team in the entire Group C team that has no European experience. This is not good news for Mainz.

But no matter what, Mainz’s UEFA Cup group stage tour will officially start in October. According to the schedule, Mainz will play away against Braga on October 10, then at home against Alkmaar on October 10. The third game will be away against Sevilla on November 17, and then against Grasshoppers at home on November 10. From the perspective of the schedule, there are advantages and disadvantages.The most important thing is that in the first game, if you can win it smoothly, you will be able to occupy a favorable position in the group.

After the grouping was over, as soon as Klopp got the schedule, he immediately arranged for the team's scouting department to go out and shoot the video of each opponent's game for preparation.

However, there is still a period of time for the UEFA Cup game. Next, Mainz will return to the league to face the most important game with all its strength, which is the game against Werder Bremen on the 6th.This is also the first time Mainz has played against Werder Bremen. For this traditional Bundesliga team, Mainz is also preparing very seriously.

(End of this chapter)