Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 699 Declaration of Victory
The TV camera followed the glass jar closely, and the small balls were taken out of the glass jar and displayed in front of everyone, followed by the head coach's expression of happiness or frustration - it depends on them The situation of grouping is good or bad.

Thanks to their excellent performance in the Champions League last season, Newcastle became the seeded team in the group stage. In the seeding team draw, they were assigned to Group A, and they looked good.

The seeded team in Group B is Real Madrid of Spain, the seeded team in Group C is Bundesliga overlord Bayern Munich, the seeded team in Group D is the Red Devils Manchester United in the Premier League, the seeded team in Group E is Arsenal also from the Premier League, F The seeded teams in Group G and Group G are Milan duo in Italy, AC Milan is in Group F, Inter Milan is in Group G, and the seeded team in Group H is Chelsea.

Of the eight seeded teams, the Premier League accounts for four, which to a certain extent also explains the recent strength of the Premier League.

However, this time the No. [-] seed team can be regarded as a gathering of strong teams. Last year's Champions League runner-up Monaco, the old Serie A team Juventus, Italy's Roma, Spain's Barcelona and Valencia are all No. [-] seeds. Whichever group you go to, this group will have the potential to be a group of death.

The first to be drawn is the second team in Group A.

Both Pei Wei and Mourinho stared at Platini's hand. The former French superstar circled around in the glass jar, then grabbed a small ball, unfolded the note in it, and glanced at it, with a smile on the corner of his mouth. , and then show the note in front of everyone.

"AS Monaco (Monaco)."

There was an uproar in the field, the champion and runner-up of last season's European Champions Cup were drawn into the same group!UEFA is really unscrupulous in order to attract attention...

Pei Wei and Mourinho looked at each other, but they didn't show much regret. In their minds, being in a group with Monaco was not unacceptable, at least it was better than Juventus and Barcelona. It's much better if the teams are grouped together.

And to decide whether a team will become the death group does not depend on how strong the top two seeded teams are, but on the strength of the latter two teams. If the strength of the latter two teams is average, then only Just a stepping stone to the seeded team.

The lottery is going on, and the fans beside the TV series have never stopped exclaiming and sighing. UEFA has used their means of attracting ratings to the fullest. The 02 Champions League runner-up Leverkusen was allocated that year. Champions Real Madrid are in Group B, Juventus and Bayern face each other in Group C, Lyon are assigned to Manchester United's Group D, Eredivisie champions Eindhoven face Arsenal in Group E, Barcelona enter AC Milan's In Group F, Valencia will have a fierce battle with Inter Milan in Group G. Chelsea has the best luck. The second seed in Group H is Russia's CSKA Moscow.

In the draw ceremony for the next third-tier team, Newcastle was pushed to the cusp again.

When Platini smiled and announced "Deportivo (Deportivo (Deportivo)", there was the loudest noise in the venue so far. At this time, I am afraid that no one thinks that this is just a coincidence. Newcastle was eliminated in the semi-finals. After defeating Deportivo and Monaco in the final, they were placed in a group with these two teams. Everyone was thinking, UEFA's attack was really ruthless this time.

Pei Wei looked at Platini's smiling face and wanted to go up and punch him - but he could only think about it, although this group did not have super giants as Newcastle's opponents, but like Monaco and Deportivo Rooney A team like Yaya who had old grudges with them last season will definitely only do one thing after meeting Newcastle, and that is to fight them to the death. This is completely predictable.

However, after the next draw ceremony began, Pei Wei and Mourinho felt a little better - they were not the only ones who were unlucky. Let's take a look at the grouping of the next two groups. Group B except Real Madrid and Bayer Leverku In addition to Sen, there is an additional Italian runner-up Roma. In addition to Juventus and Bayern, Group C also added Eredivisie overlord Ajax. The third team in Group D is Fenerbach from Turkey. It has never been easy to play in Turkey. Arsenal in Group E had the best luck. Panathinaikos from Greece was assigned to this group, and the remaining three third-tier teams were Celtic. People, Bremen and Porto are not easy persimmons.

When it was time to draw the fourth tier team lottery, everyone held their breath. Among the fourth tier teams, there are also strong teams such as Dynamo Kiev, Anderlecht and Paris Saint-Germain. If one of the three teams enters Group A, then this group is truly worthy of the title of "Group of Death"!

The Newcastle fans watching the draw ceremony stared at Platini viciously, wanting to eat the Frenchman-why did you do this, didn't we just win the championship last year, is it worth treating us like this?
But what made them relieved was that another Greek team, Olympiacos, was drawn into this group, which made this group look not so outrageous. UEFA still knows how to restrain itself and will not come up with a strong Perverted group out.

The draw ceremony is over, Pei Wei and Mourinho are not satisfied with the result of this group, but compared with Group B, Group A is not too difficult to play, after all, the four teams in Group B are Real Madrid, Lever Cousen, Roma and Dynamo Kiev, this is the real group of death.

Another relatively strong group is Group G. Inter Milan, Valencia and Werder Bremen are all strong teams in the four major leagues. Even the weakest Anderlecht often has amazing moves in the game.

If you are not satisfied, you are not satisfied. In front of the media, Mourinho said something else.

"We are very satisfied with this grouping." Mourinho said in an interview: "We experienced wonderful moments last season, especially in the Champions League, victories, promotions, championships... being able to be in this group , we have enough confidence to win. After winning the Super Bowl, we are back on the right track. Winning is sometimes like multiple births. When you get one, the rest will roll in. , there are still ten days before the first match of the Champions League group stage, and we will use a victory to salute the Champions Cup. We won the final last season, and we can still win this season. The next Champions League game is off to a good start."

According to the schedule, Newcastle's first Champions League group match of the new season is at home against Monaco.

The first game was a replay of last year's final, which was enough to attract everyone's attention, not to mention that Mourinho's words, which were almost equivalent to an early declaration of victory, aroused dissatisfaction from Monaco. Being provoked, new and old hatred added up, and the smell of gunpowder in Monaco has also become very strong.

Monaco coach Didier Deschamps said angrily in an interview: "Mourinho doesn't know how to respect them at all. We did lose to them in the final last year, but that was because we lost shortly after the start. The most important player... this season we are stronger than last season, we will definitely be able to win at St James' Park, last year's defeat will only make us more motivated to play."

Mourinho's tit-for-tat counterattack: "If you lose the game to have the motivation to play, then I would rather my team has no motivation... In fact, this is impossible, my team does not need revenge. The mentality is what wins the game.”

The war of words between the two sides was exhilarating, and the heat of this game was also heated up to the maximum. UEFA got the result they wanted most. As for who wins and who loses, they don't care.

But no one thinks that Monaco will have an advantage in this game. Last year's European runner-up has fallen apart. The four best attackers in the front field have all left the team. Morientes ended his loan contract and returned. Real Madrid, Pursau bought by Rangers, Giuly to Barcelona, ​​Roten poached by PSG despite the addition of Uruguayan striker Chivanton, Sierra Leone striker Caron and Argentine international Savio on loan from Barcelona However, it is an indisputable fact that the overall strength of the team has declined.

As Mourinho judged, in the case of a poor start in the league, winning the UEFA Super Cup, and it was a complete victory, has an immeasurable positive impact on the morale and state of the team. With Mourinho's victory declaration, the morale of the entire team reached its peak.

Seven days after returning to England, Newcastle ushered in Blackburn at home. The high-moralized Magpies beat their opponents to the ground at home. In just 9 minutes of the opening, the opposing defender Flycraft was busy under Newcastle's attack Made a mistake and accidentally blocked the ball into his own goal. No.16 minutes, Shearer gave his old club another blow. After receiving a pass from Larsson, he extended the score to two with a beautiful header. than zero.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Ribéry scored his second goal in two games, a superb shot from 30 meters that Blackburn keeper Friedel couldn't stop the ball despite a save Going into the net, the cheers above the stands of St. James' Park Stadium were like a landslide and tsunami. Ribery's wonderful performance conquered their hearts.

Before the end of the game, Newcastle's French left side completed a wonderful cooperation. Bernard plugged in and rushed into the penalty area. Ribery passed the ball skillfully. Bernard succeeded in stabbing six meters in front of the goal. It was four to zero. A hearty victory at home.

After winning this game, Newcastle, who has secured the No.3 position, is in the best condition to welcome the first game of this season's Champions League.

(End of this chapter)