Football giants

Chapter 851 The best player in Europe

UEFA's establishment of the annual best player in Europe is somewhat suspected of competing with FIFA's Ballon d'Or.

After FIFA's World Footballer of the Year merged with L'Equipe's European Ballon d'Or, there was almost nothing in Europe in terms of player selection, so it was only natural that UEFA launched the European Best Player Award in due course.

It's just that this is somewhat of a rush to FIFA.

However, in the final analysis, FIFA should have been used to this thorn.

In order to distinguish it from FIFA's Ballon d'Or selection, the selection process for the European Player of the Year award is divided into two rounds.

In the first round of voting, football journalists from 54 member countries each submit a three-man list, and the three players with the highest scores are selected to enter the second round of voting.

This year, Ibrahimovic is the top scorer, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo and finally Manuel Neuer.

At this point, Yang Huan had to say with emotion that the goalkeeper was at a disadvantage.

Otherwise, with Neuer as the main goalkeeper of the world champion and the main goalkeeper of the UEFA Champions League, these two titles are enough to qualify for the best player in Europe.

It is also a pity that there is Toni Kroos, he should also have a chance to win this award.

Different from FIFA's Ballon d'Or selection, the second round of voting for the selection of the best players in Europe will be conducted via on-site electronic voting. The journalists who voted in the first round will select one of the three players.

As for who it will be, no one can say for sure before voting.

This is also the biggest suspense in the selection of the best players in Europe.

Due to the live broadcast, UEFA specially arranged the voting to be held after the draw ceremony.

This gave Yang Huan the urge to yell.

In the lottery session, the first announced is the division of the 32 teams.

Southampton, as the champion of the Champions League, entered the first seeded team of the group stage.

Interestingly, Atletico Madrid and Benfica also belong to the first tier of teams.

It's not because Yang Huan made a move, but because their points are enough.

Switzerland's Basel entered the second pot, Ajax third, and Monaco, which returned to the Champions League after a long absence, Belgium's Anderlecht, and Sparta Prague, which eliminated their opponents in the qualifying round, entered the fourth pot.

The ranking is mainly based on the European War points, so there is no room for tricks.

But there is a saying that is quite true, it is better to draw lots than to draw lots.

When Southampton was grouped, they were assigned to Group G. As a result, in the draw, Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga was drawn in the second tier, Sporting Lisbon was drawn in the third tier, and Maribor in Slovenia was drawn in the fourth tier. The draw was not bad.

In fact, when it comes to lottery, there is a detail that is not paid much attention to.

Many people like to talk about tricks, which may be a little bit, but in fact, there are really not many options for drawing lots.

Just like Southampton, as a Premier League team, neither Manchester City in the second tier nor Liverpool in the third tier can get it.

And the team in the second tier draws Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga, so Leverkusen in the third tier will not be able to draw.

As for the fourth tier, among the eight teams, the real strengths are Monaco and Roma.

But one can imagine how likely it is to choose two out of eight.

Atlético Madrid also had good luck, being assigned to Group A against Juventus, Olympiacos and Malmo.

Basel was more unlucky. Although it was a team in the second group, it encountered Real Madrid and Liverpool in the third group.

On the contrary, Monaco, which is in the fourth tier, was a bit unlucky, and even drew Porto, Zenit St. Petersburg and Leverkusen. This should be regarded as the luckiest team in the fourth tier.

As for Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao and Borisov have been drawn, and their strength is not weak.

Ajax was unlucky to be assigned to a group with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, and they struggled with the goal of third place in the league almost from the beginning.

Looking at the eight groups, if you want to say unlucky, the most unlucky must be Bayern Munich.

As a seeded team, Bayern Munich drew Manchester City in the second tier, CSKA Moscow in the third tier, and Roma in the Serie A league in the fourth tier. The four teams are very strong and can be called the death group.

As soon as the lottery result was announced, there was an uproar at the scene, and everyone started talking.

It was completely unexpected, it must be published in all the newspapers tomorrow, and it must be another conspiracy theory.

"Manchester City is really unlucky!"

Peter Kenyon shook his head and smiled wryly after seeing the result of the draw.

Who said no?
Yang Huan also smiled, "In the Champions League group stage last season, Manchester City also met Bayern Munich and CSKA. As a result, Manchester City broke through and advanced from the group stage."

Speaking of this, Yang Huan laughed, "If it's according to the conspiracy theory, it should be that UEFA saw that Manchester City could not be killed last season. This season, it will get worse. In addition to Bayern Munich and CSKA, there will be another Roma. I don't believe that Manchester City can't be killed!"

Peter Kenyon also laughed straight away, Master Huan's words really sounded like a paparazzi.

But thinking about it is also true, such a bizarre lottery result is indeed very easy to arouse people's daydreams.

"It is difficult, but with Manchester City's strength, it should be no problem to break through the group stage."

As a strong team in the Premier League, Manchester City is indeed strong enough and has a strong lineup. If the group fails to qualify, then Pellegrini may have to dismiss get out of class.

Yang Huan nodded, "Roma and CSKA can't stop Manchester City. The key question is whether they are the first in the group or the second in the group. This determines how far Manchester City can go."

Peter Kenyon is very supportive of this statement.

Don't look at the first group and the second group, it seems that the difference is not big, but in fact, the difference is big.

According to the current rules, the second place in the group will go to the knockout round of the sixteenth round, and the first place in the other group will be encountered.

Then take a look, what teams are the first in those groups?
Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Southampton, Bayern Munich...

Not to mention Manchester City, who will have the confidence to win against these teams?
Therefore, in Yang Huan's view, the crux of Manchester City's current situation is not precisely the team's competitiveness in the knockout round, but its ability to grab points in the group stage.

"However, it's unlucky to say it. In the past few years, Manchester City seems to have encountered strong teams in the group stage." Yang Huan laughed a little gloatingly.

From Real Madrid at the beginning to Bayern Munich now, Manchester City has encountered many enemies in the group stage.

Peter Kenyon also smiled slightly, "Actually, the main reason is that Manchester City lacks the accumulation of European wars."

"Yes, if they accumulate one or two years in the Europa League, the points in the European war go up, and they enter the Champions League, they will naturally not always be ranked in the third and fourth pots, and the draw for the group stage will be much better."

Theoretically speaking, the third and fourth gears are definitely going to meet powerful people, it's just about their strength.

On the other hand, Southampton successfully defended the UEFA Europa League for two seasons before, earning enough points in the European war. Once they got a certain advantage in the division, they won the Champions League last season and naturally avoided other giants.

After the UEFA Champions League group stage group draw ceremony, the awards ceremony continued.

Platini took the vote results of the reporters and walked up to the rostrum with a smile.

The UEFA president is always good at seizing every opportunity to appear in public. Perhaps, this is the first element that a good candidate must possess.

"I just got the results of the best player in Europe voted by all the journalists present."

Hearing Platini's words, everyone below suddenly felt agitated.

Yang Huan also followed with a dignified expression. He was very concerned, who could win this award?
"The result is in my hands!" Platini smiled and held up the answer in his hand, which almost made many people on the scene go crazy. Damn, can you stop dawdling and just point directly, okay?
Perhaps it was the protests of many people below, or Platini's conscience realized that he decided not to procrastinate. Anyway, he quickly opened the results in his hand and shouted into the microphone with a smile, "The best player in Europe for the [-]-[-] season is..."

Everyone below held their breath for a while, waiting to hear the final answer.

"...from Southampton..."

When Yang Huan heard it, his heart skipped a beat, isn't it Cristiano Ronaldo?

From Southampton, could it be Neuer?
Looking at the past again, the German goalkeeper is also looking excited now, he must have thought it was him.

But the very unscrupulous UEFA president on the stage changed the subject, "...the one who is currently playing for Paris Saint-Germain, Zlatan Ibrahimovic!"

After finishing speaking, he burst out laughing, "Let's congratulate Zlatan, the best player in Europe!"

This time the audience was in an uproar.

Immediately afterwards, there was a burst of applause.

Almost everyone stood up and applauded Ibrahimovic.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was sitting in the Paris Saint-Germain area, also stood up, hugged the surrounding Paris Saint-Germain management and teammates successively, and accepted their congratulations.

After that, when he left the area and was about to go up to the stage, he ran to Southampton, took the initiative to hug Neuer and other Saints teammates, and finally came to Yang Huan.

"Thank you, Master Huan!" Ibrahimovic gave Yang Huan a big bear hug.

"No, no!" Yang Huan struggled a little.

Damn Xipi, can we stop pushing so hard?
Ibrahimovic ran up to the podium with a smile, took the trophy from Platini, looked at it for a while, and then walked to the microphone.

"Here, I have to thank all the friends who supported and voted for me, my family, my agent, and everyone who helped me, but what I want to thank most is Southampton and Master Huan!"

There was another burst of thunderous applause at the scene.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has always given people the impression of being cold and arrogant, and often has conflicts with his old club. This is the case in Ajax, Juventus and Barcelona, ​​but now, it is really not easy to take the initiative to thank Southampton.

It can be seen that he has really matured.

"I still remember that four years ago, when I was at the lowest point of my career, I almost had no ball to play. It was Master Huan who found me, and he told me, come to the Saints, let's make a career together."

Having said that, Ibrahimovic had a nostalgic smile on his face.

"I didn't believe it at first, you know, this kind of deceit can only deceive children!"

Everyone fell down immediately, they didn't expect this guy to have such a sense of humor.

"But, later, I believed it!"

"When I decided to join Southampton, I told myself that it was a gamble with my life. I believe in Master Huan, believe in the saints, and believe that we can create brilliance together."

"Four years later, I'm standing here and I'm so proud because I did it!"

"I am also very proud, because I chose the saints!"

Speaking of this, Ibrahimovic suddenly pointed at Yang Huan and said with a smile: "Master Huan, I am able to be today thanks to you. I sincerely hope that my career can end in a saint, because you said that a saint for a day is a saint for life!"

Having said that, Ibrahimovic slowly took two steps back and bowed deeply towards the bottom.

There was thunderous applause at the scene, and even many people were infected by this scene.

(End of this chapter)