Super Marshal

"Group G!"

When Matthäus turned over the note, the camera immediately focused on it and gave a big close-up.

All the guests and all the viewers sitting in front of the TV watching the live broadcast could clearly see the thick black English letters on the note in his hand, and they were all in an uproar.

Chinatown actually won Group G!

Gao Han, who was sitting in the front row, was stunned for the first time. Then he covered his mouth in disbelief and kept shaking his head, as if to say, my God, are you really not dreaming?

Matthäus was obviously surprised by the result of his draw. He smiled a little forcedly and kept shaking his head.

Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St. Petersburg, plus a Chinese team from La Liga, this can be said to be the weakest group among the eight groups in the Champions League. None of the four teams is of equal strength. A rich and powerful team.

It is estimated that at this moment, there are countless guests in the venue who are envious of Chinatown and Cantarero.

In fact, as early as after the first three teams were drawn, everyone had a hunch that Group G was likely to be the weakest. The suspense was only whether a strong team would be drawn in the fourth round, such as Dortmund or Naples, but the result was unexpected It's Chinatown.

"Did you give me money?" Ferguson, who was sitting next to him, asked angrily.

He was really depressed. Such a good thing turned out to be cheap in Chinatown. It was really...

You don’t need to think about it. Tomorrow there will be a lot of media reporting and hyping the shady secrets of the lottery. Otherwise, why would Chinatown be so lucky? It’s your first time playing in the Champions League and you’re drawn into such a weak group?

Gao Han drew a good lottery and was in a good mood. After listening to Ferguson's teasing, he chuckled and replied: "I really want to give it, but the problem is, no one dares to accept it."

Ferguson exhaled heavily, "You guys are really lucky."

Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St. Petersburg, even if these three teams are placed in the Europa League, there is no violation at all. To be able to encounter such three opponents in the Champions League group stage, Chinatown is definitely capable. Fight for the right to qualify for the group, or even qualify for the top spot in the group.

And if Chinatown really takes the top spot in the group, they may encounter weaker opponents in the knockout rounds of the top 16, and they may not have the strength to fight again. They may even hope to reach the quarterfinals.

"Luck?" Gao Han calmed down and shook his head, "You're wrong. This luck isn't necessarily that good."

"Isn't this good?" Ferguson was speechless.

How many teams wouldn’t envy it and still despise it?

As a human being, be kind.

But Gao Han seemed very serious, "If you, Manchester United, had drawn these three teams, I guess you would laugh in your dreams, but that is not the case for us in Chinatown. At best, we can only say that we have not encountered any powerful football clubs. It’s just a team, but the group stage is not easy to play, and the gap in strength between them is not obvious.”

Gao Han's words made Ferguson nod in agreement. He indeed looked at Chinatown according to the standards of wealthy teams, which was somewhat divorced from reality. The actual situation is that the four teams in Group G are very close in strength. Who can Everyone hopes to qualify from the group, and every team will give its best in every game.

Therefore, this group may eventually turn into a melee, and it will be difficult for anyone to get an advantage.

"If we hadn't sold those players this summer, I would have been very confident in qualifying for the group stage. But now that we have sold a lot of players, we have to keep the top four in the league, and we may not be able to survive in the group stage."

Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St. Petersburg are not fuel-efficient lamps. These three teams have all won the Europa League, and even in the Champions League, they have precedents of overturning wealthy teams.

Judging from past results and strength level this season, they should be on par with each other.

Ferguson very much agrees with Gao Han's analysis. If the four players are not sold this summer and this group of players is introduced to the team, Chinatown's strength will be greatly increased and there is a good chance of qualifying for the group. But now that the four main players have been sold, the situation is very difficult. Something bad happened.

There are no underdogs in the Champions League, let alone these three teams.

Sometimes I think about it, this method of drawing lots in different grades is indeed quite a trap.

As for Porto, they obviously don't have the strength of a seeded team, but because they won a Europa League title last season, and their previous appearances in the Champions League, their points actually reached the level of a seeded team.

Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St. Petersburg are not as strong as Dortmund and Naples in the fourth tier, but they ended up in the second and third tiers, which resulted in several teams being assigned to the same group.

Of course, the luck of the draw is good, but it does not represent the situation of the game.

The four teams in Group G are about the same strength and the competition will be fierce.

…………

…………

At the end of the evening, there was a grand awards ceremony. Cristiano Ronaldo defeated other competitors such as Messi and won the first European Best Player award.

This is a brand-new award specially launched by UEFA after the merger of the European Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year. It integrates the five previous awards for the best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward and best player. , merged into the European Player of the Year Award, which has a strong rivalry with the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award.

But the focus of everyone's attention is still on the draw of the Champions League group stage.

In the past, all media reporters and fans were more concerned about the death group, but what is funny is that the most eye-catching this year is the weakest and unpopular group G. A large part of the reason is Chinatown.

After the lottery ceremony, when Gao Han was interviewed by media reporters as usual, he did not think that such a lottery would be a great benefit to Chinatown. On the contrary, he repeatedly reminded everyone that Porto is the strongest team in the group. .

"As we can see, Porto was the Europa League champion last season and the Portuguese Super League Triple Crown. Although coach Villas-Boas left Chelsea this season, the team's strength is still good, obviously surpassing the other three. If there are no accidents as a team, I think they are likely to get a qualifying right."

"Both Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St. Petersburg have very rich experience in European competitions, and their strength is also good. I think they will compete for another qualifying right."

When a media reporter reminded Gao Han that he seemed to have forgotten Chinatown in Group G, Gao Han burst into laughter.

"No, I haven't forgotten it, but Chinatown is a team in the fourth tier. This summer, it lost several good players, and its overall competitiveness has been affected. So judging from the draw, Chinatown should qualify. Hopefully the least.”

But Gao Han quickly changed the subject.

"Of course, we have been on the road of constantly challenging strong teams in the past few years. We have been promoted to La Liga every year. From tenth to fourth in La Liga to the current Champions League, we have taken one step at a time to challenge the strong teams. It is our Chinatown tradition, so no matter how big or small the hope is, we will go all out."

Not only Gao Han, Chinatown's technical director Cantarero also said in an interview with the media that Chinatown's draw was not good. The other three teams were better than Chinatown. If Chinatown wants to qualify, We must go all out and play every group match well.

"We are a very young team, and being able to participate in the Champions League is a huge encouragement to us. Therefore, we will not put pressure on the players no matter what. As long as we go all out, we believe we can achieve a satisfactory result." results."

It was obvious that both Gao Han and Cantarero felt they had to keep a low profile at this moment.

The strength of the four teams is about the same, and they can win or lose. Chinatown is only fourth in La Liga, and it is not strong enough to easily defeat the Champions League teams such as Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Regarding the Champions League draw in Chinatown, the media is roughly divided into two positions.

Either they are very optimistic and believe that Chinatown was ranked fourth in La Liga last season and has the strength to compete with Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. It can definitely have the upper hand against second-tier teams in the Champions League such as Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk. , if you can draw this group, you have basically advanced to the group stage ahead of schedule.

But there is also a group that is more pessimistic. They believe that Chinatown has sold its four main players in a row, and the team's strength has been seriously weakened. The newly joined Pellet, Miranda and Godin have not yet been able to integrate with the team, and the overall strength has declined significantly. I'm afraid it will be difficult to qualify from the group.

Marca's reporter Matayana and Sel Radio's gold medal anchor De La Morena both have a neutral attitude. They believe that there are indeed many problems in Chinatown, especially the team's offensive line. The loss of Michu and James Rodriguez, the two main players, have a huge impact on Chinatown's offense.

But as long as the team can adjust, it may not be incapable of fighting.

On the second day of the Champions League group stage draw ceremony, the Europa League group stage draw also officially began.

Paris Saint-Germain's draw was also not ideal, with Austria's Salzburg, La Liga's Athletic Bilbao and Slovakia's Slaven being drawn. The strongest among them was Athletic Bilbao.

This summer, Bielsa announced that he would coach Athletic Bilbao, which became a hot topic in European football.

Head coaches including Gao Han, Guardiola and Pochettino all welcomed the Argentinian lunatic's arrival in Europe. However, Bielsa's team had a bad start and suffered a 1-4 away defeat to Real Madrid in the first round. Pochettino's Chinatown can be described as a bad brother and a bad brother.

However, no one has any doubts about Bielsa's coaching ability and the strength level of Athletic Bilbao.

But Gao Han is very optimistic about the result of the draw. When interviewed by the media in Monaco, he said very confidently that the team will undoubtedly qualify from the group stage and will definitely qualify as the top spot.

"Yes, there is no doubt that for us, if we cannot get first place in the group, it is considered a failure."

"I believe that we definitely have the strength to get the best ranking in the group."

"I am very much looking forward to playing against Bielsa. It is an honor for me. He is a great coach and a very rare wise man. I am eager to meet him as soon as possible."

Bielsa, who is far away in Spain, also quickly responded to Gao Han's remarks, saying that Athletic Bilbao will go all out and he is also very much looking forward to competing with Gao Han.

"He is one of the reasons why I chose European football." Bielsa responded provocatively.

The exchange of fire between the two famous coaches added a bit of excitement to the Europa League group stage.

But after the Europa League draw, La Liga resumed in the second round.

After Athletic Bilbao suffered a disastrous away defeat in the first round, they returned to home and continued their slump, drawing with Rayo Vallecano one to one. This gave Bielsa a bad start. Many people were worried whether the Argentine madman would repeat the same thing as before. ’s mistakes.

After all, his results in European football have always been poor.

Chinatown's situation was not ideal either. They challenged Sevilla away from home. Not long after the game started, Sevilla scored two goals. Negredo scored twice. After that, Chinatown was unable to break through. Villa's defense.

It wasn't until the 81st minute that Isco, who came on as a substitute, got a goal back for Chinatown, but in the end they still lost 1-2, ushering in the first two consecutive losses.

This deeply troubled everyone in Chinatown, and Gao Han also realized the team's crisis.

In the fourth round of Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Toulouse 4-0 away from home. After two weeks of national team matches, Gao Han came to Madrid as soon as possible.