Golden Greenery

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In the European football circle, there used to be a term "Grand Slam", which refers to a team that has won the championship in the three major European Cups, so it is a Grand Slam team.

The Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, and UEFA Cup have led European football for 40 years, and they have existed simultaneously for 28 years. During this period, the three major cups have always been the goals pursued by all teams.

In the past 40 years, there have always been some teams that have been at the top of the football food chain, and people call them 'rich clubs'. It stands to reason that these giants should have no shortage of the three major trophies for such a long time. However, no.

‘Yuabai’! That's all. Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich are the only three Grand Slam teams so far. Of course, there is controversy over whether Barcelona is a 'Grand Slam'. Barcelona has one Champions League and four European Championships, but has never won the UEFA Cup.

Barcelona is not convinced because they have three Fairs Cups in their hands. The Fairs Cup is widely regarded as the predecessor of the UEFA Cup. The two events happen to be in 1. However, UEFA does not recognize the Fairs Cup because it is a 'private event' similar in nature to the previous Toyota Cup, not UEFA. Officially authorized to host.

In any case, there are only three or four Grand Slam teams. With the European Cup Winners' Cup 1, Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Porto, Benfica and other giants will no longer have the opportunity to have a Grand Slam because they lack is the former Cup Winners' Cup.

AC Milan is not a Grand Slam either. The Rossoneri have ‘only’ seven Champions League Cups and two Cup Winners’ Cups. However, they still have a chance to win a Grand Slam, because Milan only lacks a UEFA Cup.

From the Club World Cup (Toyota Cup) to various Super Cups, from domestic to European to international, AC Milan has won almost all the honors that the club can get its hands on. It is a shame to miss the league. Cup of fragrance.

From 1 to now, Sanlan has participated in the Cup Winners' Cup 1 and 3 times and has been on the sidelines for 10 seasons. They have participated in the UEFA Cup four times, but in these four appearances, AC Milan has never even made it to the finals, let alone winning the championship, and its best result was the semi-finals in the 2001-02 season.

Failed to win the championship after 4 appearances is actually quite normal in a knockout event. Moreover, in the history of the coexistence of the three major cups, the UEFA Cup itself has the least influence among them. After all, it is a competition for losers to comfort themselves. , traditional wealthy families mostly take this opportunity to recuperate or upgrade. For AC Milan, there is no difference between the UEFA Cup runner-up and the 32nd place, so it was difficult for them to pay attention to this game from a strategic level.

This season is the fifth time AC Milan competes in the UEFA Cup. Although after the restructuring of the Champions League and the demise of the Winners' Cup, this UEFA Cup is no longer the other UEFA Cup. It is roughly equivalent to a weakened version of the old UEFA Cup + Winners' Cup, but no matter from the official to Folks still regard the new UEFA Cup as the continuation of the old UEFA Cup.

Originally, AC Milan only planned to go through the motions in the UEFA Cup this season, playing wherever they wanted. The focus of competition was only the league. The importance of the UEFA Cup was ranked after the Club World Cup and the European Super Cup, and was slightly stronger than the Football Association Cup. . But now that more than half of the schedule has passed, the competitive situation on several fronts has given the club's senior management new ideas.

The Club World Cup and Super Cup have been achieved as expected, but the league where they most wanted to compete with Inter Milan has been disappointing. After 23 rounds, AC Milan ranked fifth with 11 wins and 12 draws with 45 points, while Inter Milan, which also remained unbeaten, had 17 wins and no one could see their tail lights.

There is no shortage of miracles in football, but it would be a bit self-deceiving to compete with Inter Milan for the Serie A championship this season. Let’s first ask Roma, Juventus and Fiorentina, who are second, third and fourth, if they agree.

If you want to stand as tall as possible amidst the arrogant wind of your neighbor, fulfilling your dream of a ‘Grand Slam’ is undoubtedly the best and only choice.

Because Inter Milan will never have a chance to win a Grand Slam in this life, if it succeeds, AC Milan can use it to run against its rivals in the same city at any time for the rest of its life.

And after analyzing the situation, AC Milan found that this year's UEFA Cup is relatively ideal. 1 seedlings, Germany and England won three seats respectively, and the other eight teams were all different. 1 The giants that can be equal to Milan in terms of status are Bremen, Leverkusen, Tottenham and so on. Two.

Since the restructuring and expansion of the Champions League, the UEFA Cup has become increasingly declining, and has gradually become a stage for dark horses and second-tier teams to make a name for themselves, such as Madiburg and Sevilla. The last time a traditional G14 giant dominated the UEFA Cup was Liverpool in the 2000-01 season. The Red Army defeated Aston Villa with a golden goal 5:4 in a Premier League civil war.

After Dortmund finished second in the following season, there were no traditional strong figures in the UEFA Cup finals. The neglect of the giants in this event is evident. This year is particularly bleak. AC Milan has been the only prominent figure in the UEFA Cup since the top 32.

The competitive situation allows it, the temptation is sufficient, and there is no super opponent blocking the future, so it is natural for AC Milan to change its season goals.

The day after the victory over Rosenborg, the AC Milan club officially announced this decision internally: the competitive goal this season is to win the UEFA Cup and secure second place in Serie A to compete for fourth place.

The goal of securing second place and competing for fourth place in the league is naturally to qualify for next season's Champions League, which cannot be lost. The only difference is whether it needs to start from the qualifying rounds. For a club like AC Milan, missing the lucrative Champions League for two consecutive years will bring great inconvenience to operations, not only the direct dividends from UEFA, but also the amount of sponsorship from sponsors and various commercial activities. The development will be greatly affected, and star signings will also be disliked by the opponent, which will form a vicious cycle.

Therefore, the club's change of season goals this time has become a happy thing. The players no longer have to vomit blood and heartbreak to chase Inter Milan. There are no particularly troublesome problems in the UEFA Cup. Ronaldo is injured and Inzaghi is in a sluggish period. At this stage, this will undoubtedly make everyone feel more relaxed.

For Zhuo Yang, he already has two UEFA Cup champions. In this, he has surpassed AC Milan and many wealthy teams. Therefore, whether he can win the championship is not very attractive to him, but he is still very interested in the top scorer.

In Serie A, Zhuo Yang, who has re-upgraded his shooting boots, has scored 27 goals. This number is enough to be the top scorer in a normal year. In this way, Trezeguet, Ibrahimovic, Mutu and others gave up all their ideas early on, and Totti only scored 7 goals. The suspense in Serie A this season is not whether Zhuoyang can win the top scorer, but whether he can break the Serie A single-season scoring record.

In the UEFA Cup, Zhuoyang can also move forward casually and it will be stable. Although it is unrealistic to break his own record of 27 goals set in the 2004-05 season, it is Zhuoyang's competition with himself and has nothing to do with others. coherent.

The top scorer, this is the correct posture of forward Zhuo Yang.

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