Super Marshal

It's the annual Champions League group stage draw again.

At the end of August every year, fans all over the world will turn their attention to the Grimaldi Conference Center in Monaco.

On this day, here, the situation of the Champions League in the next six months will be decided, and the best player of the year will be selected.

But this year, there is not much suspense about the best player of the year. Iniesta, who helped Spain win the European Cup and was elected the best player of the European Cup, will get this award. This is recognized by everyone and is also the unspoken rule of the big competition year.

What really aroused everyone's interest is the Champions League draw.

After the last round of the Champions League qualifiers, UEFA announced the latest European points of the 32 Champions League group stage teams, and divided them into four grades according to the points, which became the basis for the Champions League group stage draw.

The rule of dividing the grades according to the European points has long been criticized, but UEFA has not yet come up with a strong reform measure, so this year it has to continue to follow this rule, but everyone was surprised to find something that made people both embarrassed and helpless, but very much looking forward to it.

Manchester City, which once won the Champions League and the Grand Slam under Gao Han's leadership and was invincible in the Premier League last season, is only ranked in the second tier, while AC Milan from Italy is also in the second tier.

The overall decline of the Serie A is an inevitable trend. AC Milan just broke the news not long ago that the sales of season tickets for the new season were only 20,000, creating a historical low, 10,000 less than last year. This shows that AC Milan fans do not trust the home team and hope to urge the Rossoneri to recruit players.

But a lean camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how good AC Milan is, it is still a traditional giant.

If the second-tier team is still excusable, then it is absolutely unreasonable to arrange Paris Saint-Germain, the champion of the Europa League, in the third tier. Gao Han's team is invincible in the Europa League and the French Ligue 1. It has invested nearly 500 million euros in two years to build a strong team, but it is ranked in the third tier because of the European war points?

Who wants to meet Paris Saint-Germain?

What's even more terrible is that, in addition to Paris Saint-Germain, Italian giants Juventus are also in the third tier, French Ligue 1 powerhouse Lille, Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray, Dutch giants Ajax, and Zenit St. Petersburg, which invested more than 100 million euros in transfers this summer, are all in the third tier.

What's even more suffocating is that in the fourth tier, which should have been the weakest, there are two really strong teams lurking, namely Dortmund in the Bundesliga and Chinatown in La Liga.

Last season was the first time that Chinatown played in the Champions League, and it made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League in one go, but finally lost to Bayern Munich. This has created a very interesting phenomenon. Others' European war points are counted for the past five years, while Chinatown's European war points are only counted for one year, so it can only be ranked in the fourth tier.

The same situation is with Dortmund in the Bundesliga. Klopp's team is also strong, but it is ranked in the fourth tier.

Everyone knows that this season's Champions League will be more intense than ever before, with many teams competing. Every group and every game may be a life-and-death battle, which greatly increases the value and influence of the Champions League, but also makes all participating teams feel as if they are facing a great enemy and trembling with fear.

The Champions League has become more intense, and its influence has increased, and the revenue it brings has naturally increased greatly.

With the end of the past three-year contract, starting from this summer, UEFA signed a new three-year contract with sponsors and broadcasters from 2012 to 2015, which greatly increased the income, and the income of participating teams has also increased.

All 32 teams that enter the group stage will receive a fixed appearance fee of 8.6 million euros, which is just the appearance fee. There will be other income such as winning bonuses. It is estimated that the bonus income of the Champions League champion this season will be close to 40 million euros. If the market income from broadcasting is included, it is expected that the winning team will get at least 50 million euros.

Just like Chinatown, which played two play-off games and received an appearance fee of 2.1 million euros, plus the appearance fee for six group matches, 10 million euros was received, which is equivalent to Griezmann's transfer fee. It is so easy to make money.

Therefore, many European giants, including Arsenal, attach so much importance to the Champions League.

And it can be predicted that with the fierce competition of the Champions League, the attraction and influence will increase, and the revenue of the future Champions League will continue to rise, and the benefits that participating teams can share will continue to increase.

This is also the core reason why Chinatown decided to participate in the Champions League.

…………

…………

The draw ceremony is still hosted by Secretary-General Infantino. According to convention, the ambassador of the final venue, McManaman, will attend the draw. He will be responsible for drawing the group, and the draw guests for the four teams are former Manchester United stars Denis Law, George Weah, Gullit and Cannavaro.

The draw in the first tier is the least suspenseful, but from the second tier, the draw began to become tense. By the third tier, it can basically be said that the heartbeat has accelerated and there are many exclamations.

I don't know if it was the good luck brought by Gao Han, or if it was really as some people said, that there was something shady in the draw, and UEFA intended to let the strong teams avoid Paris Saint-Germain and try to save the exciting games for the knockout rounds, so the French Ligue 1 giants had extremely good luck.

The three opponents drawn are not strong, Porto of the Portuguese Super League, Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine and Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia. Although these three teams are not weak teams, they are compared with Paris Saint-Germain. It seems that they are really unable to stop the French giants. Group A can almost be said to have the widest disparity in strength among the eight groups.

However, Chinatown, which performed extremely well last season, had no luck in the draw this season and was drawn into Group C. Arsenal was ranked first in the group, AC Milan was in the second pot, and Zeni St. Petersburg was in the third pot. special.

Although there are no top teams, they are all very capable.

Needless to say about the Gunners, Wenger's team is a stable member of the top 16 of the Champions League. Although it is known as the Premier League's fourth-place finisher, Chinatown still has to contend with Arsenal, who are also fourth in the league. A little shorter.

AC Milan is not doing well recently, but a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. A wealthy team is a wealthy team. At least the foundation is still there. In addition, Serie A teams have always been inferior to La Liga. Therefore, when Chinatown meets AC Milan, that is also A big struggle.

As for Zenit St. Petersburg, who is third in the group, they are all old acquaintances. They met in the Champions League group stage last season, and the battle was also inseparable. What’s more interesting is that last year, they played for Porto and created a victory for Chinatown. Hulk, the Brazilian center who has been in a lot of trouble, also moved to Zenit St. Petersburg this summer.

This can really be regarded as enemies on a narrow road.

Gao Han is quite satisfied with the draw results of this season's Champions League group stage in Chinatown. It can basically be said to be quite satisfactory. He was not drawn into the group of death, but he was not as lucky as last season.

The Champions League has always favored stable and mature teams. If Arsenal and AC Milan were drawn last year, Chinatown would probably be in trouble. But this year, the Gunners and Rossoneri were drawn. Gao Han feels that Chinatown may not be the best. Not capable of fighting.

First of all, the overall tactical framework of Chinatown has always been very stable. There were so many fluctuations last season, mainly because the management had some problems at the decision-making level, or it was not mature enough, which resulted in the entire central axis of the team being drained at the same time. , lost its pillar, causing ups and downs and turmoil in the team's performance.

But this summer, although four players were sold, Aubameyang left the team and Griezmann was introduced. Although his scoring ability has declined, Hazard, Isco, De Bruyne and Phil Mino and other players have become more mature, especially after a season of training in the Champions League, the players' strength has improved significantly.

Herrera left the team, but players such as Isco, Koke, and Verratti emerged, Rakitic stayed on the team, coupled with the progress of Illarramendi, and the joining of defensive player Kante, Chinatown's The strength of the entire midfield has not been weakened, and it can even be said that it has been improved.

Relatively speaking, the least impact is the departure of the two full-backs on the left and right. It is natural for Danilo and Alex Sandro to take over the main position. They have played for the team for many years without any problems, and Montoya and Moreno will be powerful complements on the two wings, coupled with the growth of Varane, De Vrij and Umtiti, Chinatown's defense is still strong.

Under this circumstance, Gao Han is convinced that Chinatown is not without the ability to compete for the right to qualify in the Champions League group stage.

Of course, there is nothing to brag about.

Last season's Champions League semi-finals were full of accidents. The draws in the group stage and the top 16 were both good. The quarter-finals were against fellow countrymen Barcelona, ​​and they knew everything about it. They stopped in the semi-finals and lost to Bayern Munich. Chinatown also lost. You are proud.

But this season it has been difficult to replicate the success of last season.

On the contrary, Paris Saint-Germain was indeed lucky in the draw of this group stage. Gao Han has enough certainty and confidence to qualify from the top spot in the group stage and strive to get a better position for the next knockout rounds.

…………

…………

It was as expected by Gao Han.

As soon as the Champions League group stage draw results came out, it immediately aroused media attention and speculation around the world. Conspiracy theories once again surfaced, especially the rumors that UEFA favored Paris Saint-Germain.

The reason is very simple. The head coach of Paris Saint-Germain is Gao Han, who has a close relationship with Platini of UEFA. Moreover, Platini is French, so he naturally favors French teams.

What's more, many media reporters were eagerly waiting for Paris Saint-Germain in the third pot to be drawn into Chinatown in the fourth pot before the draw. As a result, the two teams were not drawn together, which made them have to suspect that there was something wrong. Shady.

In this regard, Chinatown Technical Director Cantarero said in an interview with the media that the result of this draw is quite acceptable, "We are a young team and lack experience in the Champions League, so we are happy to It’s an exercise for us to compete against strong teams that play different styles of football.”

Cantarero was also asked about his predictions for this season’s Champions League group stage. “We are a fourth-tier team and must forget the results of last season, because this season is a new beginning, and we have encountered Arsenal, AC Milan, and even Zenit St. Petersburg are all strong teams that have been famous in European football for a long time.”

"We are eager to stand out from the group stage, but the premise is that we must go all out and show our best form in every game, so that we can meet the challenge of the Champions League."

Gao Han refused to answer all questions related to Chinatown. He only said that Paris Saint-Germain was confident of standing out from the group stage. He also said that the European Super Cup to be held tomorrow is a big test for Paris Saint-Germain.

"Manchester United is the first truly top European team we've faced in the past year and we have to give it our all."