Fox in the Penalty Area

Latest website: Madrid Pirates climbed to the top of the league standings after defeating Catalonia United in an away game.

As the defending champions, this is the first time they have sat in this position this season.

At present, after 22 rounds of the league, Madrid Pirates ranks first with 58 points. Catalonia United have a total of 58 points and are ranked second due to mutual disadvantage.

Even though the Madrid Kings are at home, they still cannot change the fact that they are ranked third.

And not only are they ranked third, they are seven points behind both Madrid Pirates and Catalonia United.

In the competition within the Western Premier League, seven points is a very big gap.

Even for the Kings of Madrid, it is very difficult to equalize such a point difference.

Moreover, when the Champions League knockout rounds resume, even the wealthy teams will inevitably be distracted by the Champions League, and it is impossible to guarantee that they can perform well on both fronts.

In addition, the captain of the Madrid Kings and the main goalkeeper Rodríguez Bakker has been out for two months due to injury and may not return until late March.

His absence still has a great impact on the team.

To be more pragmatic, Madrid Kings head coach Tavares should be very clear that it is a thankless task for the team to compete with Catalonia and Madrid Pirates for the league championship.

Instead of spending energy fighting on two fronts, it is better to focus on the Champions League.

Even if they fail to win the league title by then, as long as they can win the European Championship, this season will still not be considered a failure for a giant like the Madrid Kings.

After all, if it must be said, the gold content of the Champions League championship is definitely higher than the gold content of the domestic league championship.

And let's not talk about whether the Kings can win the Champions League championship. Just reaching the Champions League finals for three consecutive seasons is already an amazing achievement.

From the last thirty minutes of the game, Tavares began to make substitutions one after another.

Melli was substituted in the 77th minute.

He scored a hat-trick early in that game and was in excellent form.

Tavares naturally hopes that he can save such an excellent state for the Champions League game next week.

In the Champions League quarter-finals, they were drawn against the strong Serie A team Vesuvius.

Vesuvius is the only third-tier team to qualify in the Champions League group stage this season--except for them, the other teams qualifying in the group are all originally first- and second-tier teams.

Vesuvius is in Group G. The original first-tier team in this group is the Portuguese Super League champion Alvara, and the second-tier team is Ruhr Rhein.

In the end, Vesuvius defeated the first-tier team Alvara and qualified together with Ruerrhein.

Alvara finished third and could only participate in the Europa League knockout rounds in the second half of the season.

Although he was eliminated in the Champions League group stage, as the team's midfield organizer, Xia Xiaoyu still attracted the attention of the entire European football world.

If nothing else happens, he will most likely not stay in Alvara next season.

In addition to his own ambitions, Alvara has never forced to retain players who can be sold at an affordable price. After all, their club's way of survival is to sell players at high prices.

With Xia Xiaoyu's outstanding performance in Alvara, there is no need to worry about finding a new home - his next stop will definitely be in the five major leagues.

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The match between Kings Madrid and Vesuvius is the first game of the Champions League knockout rounds.

There are three other games that started at the same time this week, namely Paris Eger vs. Tramed at home, Sevilla Navigator vs. Manchester Athletic at home, and London Bridge vs. Ruhr Rheinland at home.

The remaining eight teams will make their debut in the middle of next week. The Turin Bulls will face Atlético Amsterdam at home, Stan Park Rangers will face Blue and White Munich in the main city, Insoubre will face Catalonia United, and Madrid Pirates will challenge Rotterdam Elite away.

According to the rules of the Champions League draw, there are not many restrictions in the quarter-finals, except that the first and second place players in the same group cannot meet, and the second-placed team in the group plays at home first.

Because among the top 16 of the Champions League this season, only one team is in the third tier.

Regardless of who is first in the group or who is second in the group, the difference in strength is not huge, and there is almost no situation where one person gets a good draw.

Even if the Madrid Kings draw the only non-group first and second team Vesuvius, they are still a strong team in Serie A and not easy to play.

The only exception is the defending champion Madrid Pirates.

They were drawn against their opponent Rotterdam Elite. Although they were last season's Eredivisie champions and the seeded team in Group F, their overall strength was not really strong.

Mainly because the head coach Reli Vicente, who led them to the league championship last season, has left the team and switched to Catalonia United, and also took away the team's main goalkeeper Toney Schulman, which is not good for the team's strength. brought some negative impacts.

The reason why they were able to advance to the top 16 as second in the group was mainly because the other teams in Group F were weaker:

In addition to Rotterdam Elite, the other team in this group is Manchester United, the third-tier team is Moscow Red Flag, and the fourth-tier team is Claude Rangers from Scotland.

In this way, in the end, Rotterdam Elite just relied on the goal difference advantage to squeeze out Claude Rangers, sending the latter to participate in the Europa League, while they advanced to the Champions League knockout rounds.

Then they met Madrid Pirates in the quarter-final draw.

When they first saw this result, many fans of other giants thought that UEFA had given away the Madrid Pirates.

Everyone was extremely envious in their hearts, but refused to admit it with their mouths. They could only feel sour and angry.

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Madrid Pirates' away game against Rotterdam Elite does not start in the middle of the week after their Catalan League match, but in the middle of next week.

This is also thanks to this arrangement, otherwise neither they nor Catalonia would be able to go all out in the league and would inevitably be distracted.

In that case, La Liga will lose a classic game this season, and the Sagrada Familia Stadium may also lose a distinguished and important VIP customer.

Precisely because they don't have to play the Champions League right next to each other, the two teams were able to contribute a wonderful 4:3 in the league.

In this week, the four Champions League quarter-finals begin.

The Kings of Madrid challenged Serie A powerhouse Vesuvius away from home.

Vesuvius is a "rich" team in southern Italy.

Italian football respects the north - basically all the strong teams are concentrated in the area north of the capital Rome.

Vesuvius is the only team located in the south that has won the league championship in history, and it is also the only team that can represent southern Italy in European competitions.

The team's style of play is relatively tough, which is different from the style of play bred in the northern industrial bases and fashionable cities. Rooted in the relatively poor agricultural areas of the south, Vesuvius is like the volcano from which the team's name comes. He has a bad temper and his style is tough and rough.

It's never easy going to this team's away games.

When Hulay was still in Leeds City, he participated in the Champions League group stage for the first time and was placed in the same group with this team. At that time, Leeds City defeated Turkey 2:1 away from home in the first round of the Champions League group stage. The wealthy Bay Lighthouse gave them some "unrealistic" illusions, thinking that they could participate in the Champions League group stage for the first time and reach the knockout rounds. As a result, they went to Vesuvius' home court and lost 0:4, leaving them unable to fight back.

You must know that it was also an away game, but Leeds City defeated Catalonia 4:2 away from home. Vesuvius' home court is even more difficult to play than Catalonia's home court...

The giant Catalan United in the same group even lost 0:1 away in the final round of the group stage, losing its first place in the group.

This shows the combat effectiveness of this team.

However, in the last two seasons of the Champions League, this Serie A team has performed inconsistently and its level has fluctuated. It has failed to qualify from the group stage for two consecutive seasons.

This time they managed to squeeze out the seeded team Alvara in the group stage, but were drawn against the Kings of Madrid in the quarter-finals...

Everyone thought that Vesuvius was in danger, but the result of the first round surprised many people - Vesuvius actually defeated the King of Madrid 2:1 at home!

Melli, who completed a hat trick in the last round of the league,

Naples, Italy, performed poorly.

No goals and no assists.

It seems like he used his state in advance...

Although they only lost one goal in the away game, the Madrid Kings, who returned to their home court, still have a chance to advance, and the probability is very high.

But the failure of this game seemed like a thick dark cloud, hanging over the hearts of all Madrid Kings fans.

Melli's statistics this season are very impressive, but he is always in poor form intermittently and cannot consistently output his best form. In addition, the main goalkeeper and captain Bakker is absent due to injury, and the league has been pulled by competitors. Open as much as seven points...

Now the road to the Champions League is so difficult again.

This has to make all Kings fans worry, is their era... coming to an end?

Anyway, judging from this week, this is the case.

When the Kings lost, more than 80% of fans across Europe were gloating.

This shows how bad the popularity of the King of Madrid is among European fans...

Many passers-by fans are dissatisfied with them, mainly because of their ruthless treatment of their legendary Alexandra Cerrados--as an iconic figure of the team, they want a contract extension and It's not excessive, and Cerrados didn't make particularly outrageous salary demands. However, in order to make way for Melli, the club was unwilling to renew the contract with Cerrados, which eventually forced Cerrados to retire in one year before he could participate in the local World Cup.

Cerrados would rather not participate in the World Cup in order not to play for other clubs. His loyalty to the Kings Club is evident day by day.

But the Kings Club treated him like a rag, throwing it away after he had no use value.

Perhaps Cerrados was relieved after retiring, but passers-by could not let go and were still complaining about Cerrados.

Naturally, they all hope that such a ruthless team will perform as poorly as possible.

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Chapter 137 The Champions League reignited the war