Football King Bale

Guardiola said he wanted to turn his attention to the Champions League, that's what he said, and Barcelona did the same.

Although there was only 72 hours between the loss to Osasuna, they crossed the entire France from the northeast of Spain to the southwest of Germany. It was the first time since Guardiola took office that they lost in the Champions League 1/8 finals. Away win in 1 round.

The process was a bit difficult, but the results were ideal. At the Bayer Arena, Barcelona defeated Bayer Leverkusen with a score of 3:1.

This victory also allowed Barcelona to basically lock in the Champions League quarterfinals.

In the history of European competitions, 154 teams have led 3:1 after the first round, and 151 of them advanced to the next round.

Judging from historical data, Barcelona's probability of advancing is as high as 98%!

In fact, Barcelona's probability of advancement can actually be regarded as 100%. At the Bayer Arena, Leverkusen used two traditional methods against Barcelona in the first and second halves, but in the end neither worked.

In the first 45 minutes, the German team chose to defend and not attack. Barcelona failed to create many threatening offenses in the first half, but the instant sparks between Messi and Alexis Sanchez were enough to change the trend of the game. In the second half, Leverkusen used a frontcourt press and a two-sided approach to fight Barcelona. Although they once equalized the score, they were eventually scored twice by Alexis Sanchez and Messi due to holes in the defense.

In terms of football style, Barcelona, ​​which pays attention to technology and passing and controlling the ball, is also very weak to the Bundesliga team that emphasizes impact and speed. Since losing 1:2 away to Bayer Leverkusen in 2001, Barcelona has remained unbeaten against German teams for 11 consecutive years. In the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, Barcelona had 3 wins and 1 draw against Werder Bremen in the Champions League group stage. In the 2007-2008 season, Barcelona double defeated Stuttgart in the Champions League group stage and double defeated Schalke 04 in the quarter-finals. In the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, Barcelona had 1 win and 1 draw against Bayern and Stuttgart in the Champions League quarter-finals and 1/8 finals respectively.

After basically locking in the top eight spots in the first round, Barcelona can finally breathe a sigh of relief. In the next two weekends, Barcelona will face Valencia and Atletico Madrid home and away in the league. To reverse Real Madrid and win the league, Barcelona must win these two games. Now that the Red and Blues finally no longer need to be distracted by the Champions League and Copa del Rey, the Dream Team can focus all their energy on La Liga for the time being.

Tonight's victory also made Barcelona win six consecutive away games in the Champions League for the first time in history. In the last 6 Champions League away games, Barcelona has defeated Shakhtar Donetsk, Real Madrid, BATE Borisov, Victory Pilsen, AC Milan and Leverkusen. Messi is the biggest contributor to Barcelona's new record. Flea scored in every game in these 6 games. The Argentine scored a total of 10 away goals.

certainly,

Barcelona wants to fulfill Guardiola's dream of regaining the Champions League, but there are still too many difficulties to overcome.

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The match between Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen was the first match day of the Champions League 1/8 knockout round. There was another match on the same day. As a result, the former French hegemon Lyon relied on the goal of the post-90s teenager Lacazette. A 1:0 home victory over the dark horse Cypriot team APOEL.

With the start of these two Champions League knockout rounds, this season's Champions League has officially entered the knockout stage.

Two of the four participating teams on the second match day are from the Premier League. The Gunners are going away to challenge AC Milan, the Rossoneri, and Manchester United is traveling thousands of miles away to Russia to challenge Zenit St. Petersburg.

In these two games, the media and betting companies are not very optimistic about the two Premier League teams. For the Gunners, although they have played against Serie A teams 27 times in history and achieved a good record of 13 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses, and they have also tied with AC Milan 4 times with 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss, they want the San Siro Stadium It is very difficult to win a victory.

In the matchup between Manchester United and St. Petersburg, a pair of opponents with a huge disparity in strength, the media and betting companies were not optimistic about Manchester United purely because of the weather.

Because Manchester United advanced to the knockout rounds as the first in the group, they have the schedule advantage of visiting first and then home in this knockout round. But as far as the entire Manchester United team is concerned, they would rather not have this so-called schedule advantage.

Because although Manchester was still relatively cold in mid-February, it had finally passed the coldest stage of the year. But 2,100 kilometers away, St. Petersburg, a border city in western Russia, the easternmost Russian city on the Baltic Sea, is still freezing.

According to the latest weather forecast, the recent temperature in St. Petersburg has remained around minus 20 degrees!

This is a low temperature that is difficult to reach in Manchester during the coldest times, not to mention that the temperature in Manchester has basically returned to above freezing.

It is hard to imagine how much combat effectiveness the Manchester United people, who are accustomed to the warmer climate, can exert in the freezing cold weather of Russia.

After all, the once powerful Napoleon and the German army were defeated miserably by the Russian cold.

If the schedule is reversed, it will be early March by the time of the second round. At that time, the weather in Russia will be much better. It will be easier for Manchester United to adapt if they play again.

However, the Champions League schedule will not change because of the reluctance of Manchester United people. They still have to brave the severe cold to play away games at this time.

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For many European giants, the Champions League is a hugely attractive competition. In addition to the high quality of the game itself, more importantly, it is a very profitable game. It's not so much the Champions League as it is the Euroleague.

And just as this year's Champions League knockout rounds began, the famous sports media "Gazzetta dello Sport" calculated that since the UEFA Champions League was restructured in 1992, each team participating in the Champions League has taken away from this most profitable event in the world. How much money was spent, and as a result, the current No. 1 giant, the Red Devils, Manchester United, topped the list with an undisputed advantage.

According to statistics, in the past 19 Champions League seasons, Manchester United reached the Champions League finals four times in 1999, 2008, 2009 and 2011, and won the Champions League championship in 1999, 2008 and 2011. Perhaps the 1999 Champions League championship did not bring huge revenue to Manchester United, but the three Champions League finals in 2008, 2009 and 2011 were enough to leave other teams in the dust. According to the UEFA Champions League bonus distribution principles, Manchester United has received at least 140 million euros in bonuses over the past three years. In 19 years, Manchester United's total prize money in the Champions League has reached a staggering 410 million euros, and it is also the only team among all participating teams with a total prize money of more than 400 million euros.

Following Manchester United, surprisingly, it is not the Western Premier League duo, but the Southern King Bayern. As the eldest brother of the Bundesliga, Bayern is also a master of attracting money in the Champions League. Since the restructuring of the Champions League, Bayern has reached the Champions League finals in 1999, 2001 and 2010. In 2001, they defeated Valencia on penalties and won the championship.

For Bayern, the 2010 Champions League was disappointing in terms of results. They reached the last moment but failed to have the last laugh. However, this step also netted them more than 40 million euros in prize money. After 19 years, their total Champions League prize money has reached 346.8 million euros. Although ranked second, there is a gap of more than 60 million euros between the South King and the Red Devils at the top.

Barcelona may not be the most successful team after the restructuring of the Champions League, but after entering the 21st century, they are definitely the most dominant team in the Champions League. In 2006, Barcelona defeated Arsenal 2:1 to win the Champions League, starting the second dream dynasty after Cruyff's dream first era. But the show is not over yet. After Guardiola took office, Barcelona started a more dreamy Dream Three Dynasty. In 2009, they defeated Manchester United to win the title. In 2011, they reached the final again. These three times entering the Champions League finals were all accomplished when the Champions League bonuses were significantly increased, thus bringing enough bonuses to the club. According to statistics, in the past 19 years of the Champions League, Barcelona's total prize money reached 317.3 million euros, ranking third.

Real Madrid is undoubtedly the most successful team in the history of the Champions League. They have won 9 Champions League titles. After the Champions League was restructured, they won the Champions League in 1998, 2000 and 2002. Due to the formation of the first and second phases of Galacticos, Real Madrid's influence in the Champions League is also obvious to all, which has given them sufficient ability to attract money. If Real Madrid had not failed to reach the 16-to-8 threshold several times before Mourinho, their bonuses could have been greatly increased, and it would not be impossible to surpass Bayern. But even so, in the past 19 years, Real Madrid's total Champions League bonuses have reached 316.9 million euros. They are also one of the four teams in the Champions League with more than 310 million European Champions League bonuses.

After these four super giants, the top ten teams are also well-known teams in Europe. Among them, the Premier League teams are the strongest, with Gunners Arsenal ranking fifth with 298.9 million euros and Blues Chelsea ranking sixth with 276.5 million euros.

Serie A's traditional top three also performed well, with six Champions League finals and three Champions League titles, earning the Rossoneri a bonus of 269.5 million euros, ranking seventh; while AC Milan's city rival Inter Milan's total bonus was 237.3 million euros, ranking ninth; Serie A class leader Juventus was affected by the Calciopoli and missed the Champions League when it was the most profitable, ranking tenth with only 211.1 million euros in bonuses.

Although Lyon has never won the Champions League, the French giants are regulars in the Champions League, and they always get out of the group, which determines the amount of prize money they receive in the Champions League. According to statistics from Gazzetta dello Sport, Lyon has earned a total of 248.6 million euros in bonuses from the Champions League in the past 19 seasons, ranking eighth in the overall list. They are also the only team in Ligue 1 to rank among the top ten in terms of prize money.

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