Heroes of the Restricted Zone

Chapter 331 Champions League Grouping

It is very exciting to have qualified for the Champions League. The media in other parts of Italy are worried about Naples' prospects in this season's Champions League, but the local media in Naples seem ecstatic.

They all praised this is a great breakthrough, this is a new chapter of Naples football, it is a great day.

This is especially true for the fans. When they defeated Sporting Lisbon at home to qualify for the main match, many fans even carried out a portrait of Maradona to thank him for his blessing to the team...

Of course, Chen Yingxiong himself is dismissive of this, and Maradona is not dead yet...

Not much to say about the carnival of Naples fans.For the Naples players, they don't have that luxury and can enjoy the joy of breaking into the Champions League.

Because just before the second day's training, the head coach Mazari has warned everyone not to be happy with such a small result.

"...it's really nothing to be happy about, instead you should frown. Because we're stepping into a tougher stage than anything you've ever experienced before. Champions League, guys! It's nothing Italy's domestic leagues can be compared. It will be very difficult for us to qualify from the group stage here, let alone the quarter-finals and quarter-finals. And entering the Champions League means that we will have to compete in the next new season. Divide the two fronts in the center - at least before the winter break. As for whether it will be like this after the winter break, it depends on your performance. Fighting on two fronts at the same time is very important for us. A rare experience, but I'm not sure you guys are ready for it."

In the UEFA Cup last season, the Naples players who were full of joy to participate in the Champions League were finally thrown cold water on their heads.

They were eliminated in the group stage.

This disappointed many Naples fans.

Therefore, it is normal for many people to worry that Naples will repeat the same mistakes this season.The head coach himself is worried...

This is completely a seedling to encourage growth.He didn't want to directly challenge the Champions League this season, if it wasn't for...the team's momentum was too strong in the final stage of last season...

He was worried that the players would not be able to cope with the two-line battle.What will happen if you face a higher level and more intense UEFA Champions League?

To be honest, he really has no idea about being the head coach.

Napoli have not played in the Champions League for 19 years.The last time they participated in the UEFA Champions League it was still called the European Champions Cup...

"So, in order to make you fully prepared, every day of training in the future will let you experience... the feeling that life is worse than death!"

The players let out a burst of exclamation. They knew that the good times were over...

※ ※ ※

For Sanchez, Sarajeta, Suniga, Contini, and Pazienza, they can really feel the taste of "life is worse than death"...

When the team is in full swing preparing for the second round of the new league season and preparing for the Champions League group stage, they can only haunt the gym and physiotherapy room.because they were hurt...

They are part of the team's injured list.At first, Sanchez was the only one on the list, and other names were added later, and Sanchez also had new partners.

These people are basically injured in training.Mazari's training was very intensive, and some people were injured if they couldn't hold on.

But Mazari did not stop his training program.He knows that high-intensity training at the beginning of the season is necessary, because only in this way can the players have sufficient physical reserves.If the pre-season training is too easy, everyone will start to suffer from physical insufficiency around the winter break. If they don't make the team, their performance will decline, and many people will greatly increase the chance of injury.

This is experience.

Every head coach must be clear about the importance of pre-season training.

He took over the team midway last season, and the team's pre-season training plan was not made by him.This is the first time he has led the team in pre-season preparations this season, so he naturally has to implement his ideas.

The high-intensity training is so that the team will not lose the chain due to the rapid exhaustion of physical energy when fighting on two lines.

When the time comes to be eliminated in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and the domestic league falls into the relegation zone, it will be too sad...

※ ※ ※

When Naples was actively preparing for the game, the results of the group draw for the Champions League group stage also came out.

Because Naples participated in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 19 years, and their performance in the UEFA Cup last season was also very poor, so they are very low in the European War points and are listed as a fourth-tier team.

This means that Naples will very likely be assigned to the death group... At that time, they will not even be able to make it out of the group stage. The best result is to get third in the group and go to the UEFA Cup knockout round.

But for Naples, I really don't know whether the final result is good or bad.

They were drawn into a group with Liverpool, Lyon and Zenit St Petersburg...

This is not a group of death in the absolute sense, but it feels like the strength of the four teams is about equal, and it is normal for whoever wins and who loses.Because of this, it makes people feel that the qualifying situation of this group is a bit confusing.

There is another episode in this lottery...

When the name of Naples was printed on the big screen and appeared below Zenit St. Petersburg, the TV broadcast gave a close-up shot of Sasania, the general manager of Zenit St. Petersburg.The director in charge of broadcasting the draw ceremony obviously knows European football very well, and at least he is also very concerned about Zenit St. Petersburg.

This was the first time that Chen Yingxiong and Arshavin met with their old club after leaving Zenit. Unexpectedly, it was in the Champions League group stage.

Relying on the foundation of victory laid by Chen Yingxiong's crazy goals in the first eleven rounds last season, although Zenit St. Petersburg's performance in the second half of the season was not as eye-catching as the first half of the season, they also retained the league championship. They won for two consecutive seasons. To the league championship, once again qualified for the Champions League.

Although Zenit St. Petersburg's performance in the UEFA Champions League last season was not satisfactory, they only finished third in the group and ended up playing in the UEFA Cup.But it also has something to do with leaving two absolute main cores in one go.

With the Champions League points of last season, as well as the UEFA Cup championship of the previous season and the UEFA Cup record of the previous season, Zenit St. Petersburg ranks the third team in the UEFA Champions League this season.

In this way, the two teams were divided into a group...

Chen Yingxiong and Arshavin will have the opportunity to return to the Petrovsky Stadium, where there are fans who still welcome them.

It's just that Zenit St. Petersburg is different now.

The team's meritorious head coach Ed Vocarter was dismissed by the club on August [-]th this year. He had conflicts with the club for a long time. At first, because of the departure of Chen Yingxiong and Arshavin, he was dissatisfied with the club's senior management and thought that The club's executives did not do everything possible to keep these two core players, which led to the fiasco of the Champions League.And the club executives also blamed him for the defeat in the Champions League...

At that time, the relationship between the club and Advocaat was already very bad. If Advocaat hadn’t led the team to withstand the pursuit of Rubin Kazan and finally retained the league championship, I’m afraid he would have been dismissed at that time .

In 2009, Zenit St. Petersburg's performance in the domestic league was not satisfactory. At the same time, in the summer, the team's captain and midfielder Tymoshchuk was also sold to Bayern Munich by the club. The conflict between Advocaat and the club exploded.In addition, Advocaat announced in advance that he intends to switch to coach the Belgian national team after the contract expires in January next year.This caused dissatisfaction among the club's top management. The club believes that Edvocaat's move has led to the team's lack of morale, which is the main reason for the team's current poor ranking in the league.As a head coach, he lacks the necessary work ethic.

And just like that, Edvarkata was fired with half a year left on his contract...

Therefore, Chen Yingxiong will not have the opportunity to compete with his mentor. Now Zenit is temporarily being guarded by the former Zenit youth team head coach Anatoly Davydov (Anatoly_Davydov).

The caretaker coach Chen Yingxiong still knows about it. Although he didn't stay in the Zenit youth team for a long time, he naturally knows the people who meet every day.

Davydov used to be Popovich's assistant. After Popovich's contract expired last season, he left Zenit and Davydov was promoted to the head coach of the youth team.

When Advocaat came to Zenit, he brought his own coaching team. Now that he has been dismissed, it makes no sense for his assistants to stay at the Zenit club, so even the assistant coach Porter Followed and left.

The assistant coach and the head coach are gone. Naturally, the head coach can only be promoted from the youth team to be the interim head coach.

The two sides signed a temporary contract valid for half a year. During this half of the season, Davydov will serve as the team's head coach.

Zenit, on the other hand, began to actively look for a new head coach to replace Davydov.

Judging from Zenit's current situation, although they are the third-tier team in this group, from this point of view, they should probably be ranked fourth.

If Naples wants to qualify, they must score six points on this team.In this way, it is naturally impossible for Chen Yingxiong and Arshavin to show mercy when facing their old club.

As for Liverpool and Lyon, they are not easy opponents...

The results of the group stage draw came out. After 19 years, Naples' Champions League journey will officially start on September [-].

Their first opponent in the group stage is Lyon. On September [-], they will go to an away game to challenge the former Ligue [-] overlord.

※ ※ ※

PS, there are still less than two days until the end of November, so please get your monthly pass!

(End of this chapter)