i want to be king

Chapter 906 The Road to Mythology
Every year at the end of August, Monaco will become the focus of fans all over the world.

The annual UEFA Champions League group stage draw and UEFA awards ceremony will be held at the Grimaldi Convention Center in Monaco.

Su Dong received UEFA's invitation very early, and later he was afraid that he would not be willing to participate, so he successively invited him to attend this grand event through the management of Manchester City, Messi, Harvey and others, and even Platini himself called.

The loss of Sudong in the Champions League last season was obviously eclipsed a lot. Now that Sudong is making a comeback, it is naturally the focus of the Champions League hype, and it is also the focus of media and fans all over the world.

This is the first time in the history of Manchester City to participate in the Champions League.

A newly promoted horse wins the championship, which has always been a myth talked about by world football.

The most praised Kaiserslautern is the Bundesliga Kaiserslautern, mainly because of the closest distance. In the late 90s, under the leadership of head coach Rehhagel, Kaiserslautern created the myth of a newly promoted team winning the championship.

There is no such precedent in the Premier League so far, but League One has appeared before the birth of the Premier League, and it has appeared twice.

In [-], under the leadership of the legendary coach Alaf Ramsey, Ipswich City was promoted to League One, and miraculously won the League One championship in [-], creating the first time in the history of England's top league that a newly promoted horse won the championship.

Fifteen years later, Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough repeated this myth again, and this time Clough did it more thoroughly. After winning the League One championship, he represented League One in the Champions League.

That's it?

No, Clough's team successfully defended the Champions League in the second season after winning it!
Although the current Nottingham Forest has been sinking in the low-level leagues and lost the right to advance in the Super League play-offs this summer, the glory of this team more than 30 years ago is still exciting to think about.

In the history of the Champions League, Nottingham Forest is not the first team to win the championship for the first time.

In the 50s, the UEFA Champions League was first created. At that time, there were only twelve teams. Real Madrid, which won the first UEFA Champions League, became the first team in history to win the UEFA Champions League for the first time.

In [-], Inter Milan participated in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. After going through all the difficulties, they defeated Real Madrid in the final and became the second team to win the Champions League for the first time.

Only three years later, the Celtics from the Soviet Super League made a blockbuster debut and successfully became the third team.

Therefore, strictly speaking, Clough's Nottingham Forest is the fourth team in the history of the Champions League to win the Champions League for the first time.

In [-], Aston Villa participated in the Champions League for the first time after winning the League One Championship, and defeated Bayern Munich in the final, won the Champions League and became the fifth legendary team.

In the 55-year history of the Champions League, a total of five legendary teams have been born that won the championship for the first time.

But the most recent one was in 29, [-] years ago.

Then why in the first 26 years, a total of five teams emerged to win the championship for the first time, but in the following 29 years, they did not appear again?

L'Equipe said in its analysis that this is because the threshold for winning the Champions League has become higher and higher.

In the past, the UEFA Champions League was a cup competition. There were not many participating teams. Only the teams that won the championship in the league were allowed to participate.

This is the same as the FA Cup in England. The single knockout format makes the FA Cup known as a hotbed of unpopularity.

But with the restructuring of the Champions League, especially in recent years, the continuous expansion of the Champions League, in addition to the championship team, including the top teams in the league can participate in the competition. It seems that there are more participating teams, and many teams can play in the Champions League. But in fact, it is precisely because there are more participating teams and more games. All teams want to win.

The group stage is more of a test of the overall strength of the team. Only the top two with outstanding strength and better condition can advance to the knockout round, and the subsequent knockout rounds are basically a dialogue between the strong and the strong. Without sufficient strength and state, it is difficult to advance layer by layer.

Moreover, since the Bosman Act, the flow of players has become more and more convenient, and high-level players have also begun to gather towards wealthy teams, which makes the threshold for winning the Champions League higher and higher.

There are some middle- and lower-level teams in the leagues of various countries. After accidental outbreaks, they played amazingly, achieved good rankings in the league, and even won the championship. However, in the subsequent summer transfers, it was difficult for them to have enough financial resources to retain their leading stars, and the loss of personnel became very serious.

Therefore, in the following Champions League matches, it will be difficult to have the strength to hit the championship.

That's why, in the first 26 years, there were five first-time championship teams, and in the next 29 years, not even one.

Does Manchester City have a chance to become the sixth team?

After the first three rounds of the Premier League, everyone was surprised to find that Manchester City's strength has not weakened compared to last season, but has become stronger, and Guardiola's tactics have become more mature and stable.

Such a team has the opportunity to hit this historic honor.

However, as the team newspaper said, Manchester City wants to hit the championship in the Champions League for the first time, which is as difficult as winning the lottery.

When the star Su Dong and the technical director Begiristan were blocked by media reporters at the entrance of the Grimaldi Conference Center, asking Manchester City's views on the draw and their thoughts on the expectations of the outside world, Su Dong said it was too far away.

"I have played many Champions League games, so I know that in a competition like the Champions League, it is not normal to think too far away. All of us, from the management to the coaching staff to the players, should play the next game down-to-earth."

Su Dong also mentioned the current grouping situation of the Champions League.

It is the first time for Manchester City to participate in the Champions League. Although winning the Europa League last season has helped the points, Manchester City is still ranked third. What does this mean?
The first pot is the eight strongest seeded teams, the second pot is also such strong teams as AC Milan, Lyon, Valencia and Villarreal, even in the third pot, there are Manchester City, Lille, Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax and other teams.

Not to mention the fourth gear, Dortmund and Naples are the standard configuration of the death group.

In other words, regardless of the third gear, it is a high probability event for Manchester City to draw the death group.

Or it should be said that whoever is unlucky to draw Manchester City is equivalent to being unlucky and falling into the death group.

This is true for opponents, isn't it true for Manchester City itself?

Who wants to meet the Group of Death from the start?

Six games, how much consumption?

Therefore, to a certain extent, the European War points and the Champions League group draw are actually important factors that prevent non-strong teams from going further in the Champions League.

Of course, if Manchester City's luck is so good that it explodes, the team in the first tier draws the weakest Porto, the team in the second tier draws Marseille or Benfica, and the team in the fourth tier avoids Dortmund and Naples, then Manchester City's luck will indeed explode.

But this kind of good luck really can't be expected too much.

…………

…………

As soon as Su Dong and Begiristan walked into the Grimaldi Conference Center, they immediately became the focus of attention.

The reason is simple. Manchester City has now been labeled as the group of death, and whoever touches it will be unlucky.

More importantly, Su Dong.

No one wants to meet Su Dong in the Champions League group stage, this is terrible!

Su Dong and Begiristan stood at the entrance for a while, looked around, and the first thing they saw was Messi walking towards him.

"Hey Sue!"

"Leo."

The two embraced warmly, and then Iniesta also greeted him.

"Long time no see, Sue!"

There are many Barcelona players participating in the lottery and awards ceremony tonight, including Harvey and Puyol.

What made Su Dong very eye-catching was that Puyol appeared on such a serious occasion in very casual clothes, which was simply too unusual in the Grimaldi Conference Center where the entire venue was dressed in suits and leather ties.

"Yellow T-shirt, gray plaid shorts, perfect!" Su Dong kept nodding his head and gave a thumbs up.

Everyone around burst into laughter.

Puyol's dress did not bring him less attention.

"Does it look good?" The fellow opened his arms cheekily and asked.

"Very elegant, calm, and calm, matching your... um... lion-like hair, I'm just... um..."

At the end of Su Dong's speech, he really couldn't make it up anymore. He just shook his head and smiled wryly, and complained, "Nimi, did you forget to bring your suit when you went out? Go back and change!"

Everyone burst into laughter again.

In fact, Puyol was really wronged.

When the Barcelona team came to Monaco, they wore the suit he was wearing now, with the Barcelona team logo on the chest.

It stands to reason that if you want to participate in such a formal occasion, you should change into a formal suit. Messi, Harvey, Iniesta and others are all like this, but Puyol is not, so he directly wears this suit.

It is impossible for UEFA to say that you will not be allowed to enter if you dress like this?
"You know, we don't have a team logo on our suits." Puyol pulled up the team logo on his chest and said solemnly.

Harvey shook his head helplessly, "He was injured and couldn't play the Super Bowl, but he wanted to help the team win, so he came to the party wearing this suit, saying that he would contribute to tomorrow's game."

Su Dong was at a loss, only feeling a crow flying overhead.

Nima, what does it have to do with tomorrow's game if you come to the party dressed like this?

The brain circuits of Spanish players are really peculiar!

"Then you are really wearing it for nothing!" Su Dong laughed.

Isn't tomorrow's Super Cup the Champions League champions Barcelona against Europa League champions Manchester City?
Su Dong immediately decided that he must stay away from Puyol.

Those who are close to vermilion are red, those who are close to stupid are stupid.

Better keep your distance.

(End of this chapter)