The strongest winger

Chapter 301 Opponent - Manchester United! (three more)

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After Valencia's home game against Bratislava, Aiello and his team-mates had a short celebration before entering the dressing room because he wanted to know the result of Manchester United's away game against Benfica, which was also played in Portugal.

"Brother Diving, Rooney! You guys have to work hard!!"

Under Aiello's murmur, he opened UEFA's official website with his mobile browser.

In an instant, he was attracted by a piece of news: "In a focus battle in Group D of the UEFA Champions League in the 05-06 season, Villarreal, who played at home, beat the Ligue [-] team Lille with one goal."

I go!How can the match between Villarreal and Lille compare with the focus of Manchester United and Benfica?

Isn't this a pit?
It wasn't until now that Ai Luo discovered that UEFA also has a headline party.

What a waste of emotion! !
Ai Luo continued to scroll down and saw another red headline: "In another focus match in Group D, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help the team reverse Benfica [-]-[-]..."

call---
After seeing this result, Ai Luo finally let out a sigh of relief.

After reading the headline, he was immediately attracted by Cristiano Ronaldo's brace, and continued to look down, "Cristiano Ronaldo used a direct free kick in the 78th minute and a long shot from the front of the penalty area in the 89th minute to help the team reverse..."

It's not easy!

Thinking of the Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney I saw at BJ this year, it was really a skinny guy and a fat guy.

Shaking his head, in short...it's good to win.

In order to express the difficult group qualifying against Manchester United, he sent a congratulatory text message to Rooney and Ronaldo respectively.

The six rounds of the UEFA Champions League group stage are all over, and the sixteen teams that entered the top sixteen of the UEFA Champions League in the 05-06 season have all been born, but this year's top sixteen is a bit different from previous years.

why?
Because this year's UEFA Champions League group No. 2 qualifying five teams are world-class giants, they are Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Inter Milan.

So after the end of the group stage, not only mainstream sports newspapers in Europe began to analyze frantically, but even sports media from other continents that pay attention to the UEFA Champions League also began to analyze the draw for the next 1/8 finals.

For Valencia, they only need to worry about whether they will run into Chelsea and Manchester United, because according to the relevant rules of UEFA, the draw of the 1/8 final stipulates that the teams and group stage opponents of the same football association are impossible to meet in this draw.

Therefore, there are only two other formidable opponents to worry about.

But Aiello knows... Real Madrid will definitely meet Arsenal in the 1/8 finals, and Barcelona will definitely be in the same group because of their grievances with Chelsea last season. This is the unspoken rule of UEFA in the draw, and basically there will be no difference.

What Ai Luo is worried about is whether they will draw the Red Devils Manchester United, and if they... really draw Manchester United?
"Valencia Sport", the best-selling local newspaper in Valencia, is also analyzing UEFA's 05-06 UEFA Champions League 1/8 final draw at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland four days later.

"The group stage of this season's UEFA Champions League is all over, but the smoke of the group stage has not cleared. UEFA will start drawing lots for the 1/8 finals starting next year. Although Valencia qualified as No.1 in Group H and successfully avoided No.1 in each group, but... this year's Champions League group stage is a bit special. Why is it special? Because after the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage this year, there are five world-class giants ranked second in the group. They are Bayern Munich in Group A, Manchester United in Group D, and Real Madrid in Group F. Chelsea in Group H and Inter Milan in Group H, so..."

"...Throwing away the 1/8 draw avoidance principle of the Champions League, that is to say, throwing away Real Madrid and Inter Milan in the same group in the group stage, that is, leaving Bayern Munich in Group A, Manchester United in Group D and Chelsea in Group G. Any remaining opponents should not be underestimated. Last season, they even eliminated Barcelona in the 1/8 finals..."

After analyzing and analyzing, I still think that Valencia's game is not easy to play. Leaving these three giants, the remaining Werder Bremen, Ajax and PSV are not underdogs.

After all, how many teams that can stand out from the group stage are good persimmons?

When it comes to the knockout round, no one wants to lose!
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In fact, not only Valencia's sports media are analyzing Valencia's opponents in the Champions League 1/8 finals, but the Chinese media, which is thousands of miles away, are also analyzing, but what they analyze is not the probability of competing with these giants.

Instead, analyze the odds of the 'Chinese Derby' in the Champions League.

Valencia vs Ajax
Valencia vs Werder Bremen

After the UEFA Champions League group stage, all kinds of such headlines ran rampant on newsstands, and even factual newspapers that had nothing to do with sports usually joined the event.

The headline of this issue of "Football News" reads: UEFA is transporting "Chinese players in the 'derby' of the Champions League". Not to mention, it is quite reasonable to be analyzed by this "Football News". It is not impossible for Rencia to draw Ajax and Werder Bremen, which also have Chinese players. After all, the amount of gold in the UEFA Champions League is there, and it is impossible to give up..."

And the readers who bought this issue of "Football News" all subconsciously said: Fuck! !

Indeed, the Chinese market is very attractive to UEFA, and it is not impossible to transport a Chinese player in the Champions League Derby, it just depends on whether they want it or not.

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Before the UEFA Champions League 1/8 final draw has not started, the mainstream media in Europe are speculating about the next European 1/8 final match.

Needless to say, both sides of the match were guessed by various media to be close to each other.

The most eye-catching thing was the headline of the "World Sports News" that day, "Kneeling for Chelsea!"

After all the UEFA Champions League group matches were over, "Mundo Deportivo" began to make a survey. It was surprising to find that 44% of the Catalan fans chose Chelsea as their opponent.

Among them, "Mundo Deportivo" mentioned the "wish" of the lottery, and at the same time did not forget to ridicule Valencia, "Like thousands of Barcelona fans, we all hope that Barcelona can draw Chelsea! Why? Because we want revenge in football, because it is unfair to be eliminated last season! Compared with Valencia picking weak persimmons, we have more confidence in our own strength! No strength, no football!! This is our confidence in Barcelona!!!"

Therefore, Valencia also had to lie down and get shot.

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Since there was no game in Valencia before the draw, the team was doing restorative training, and the technical and tactical training was only staged for about 10 minutes a day, because the coaches knew that Christmas was approaching, and the mentality of the players was already out of the game. They wanted to go and play at the beginning of the winter break...

After all, I have worked hard for half a season and have nearly half a month of rest. Can I have a good time?

A combination of work and rest is king!
At noon on NO.16, after Valencia finished training for the day, club president Soler, head coach Flores and captain Canizares boarded a plane to Nyon, Switzerland to participate in the draw ceremony for the 05/06 finals of the 1-8 UEFA Champions League that night.

At seven o'clock that night, the 05/06 finals of the UEFA Champions League knockout round of the 1-8 season officially started at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

The draw ceremony was presided over by UEFA CEO Olsson. The venue first played two short films, a clip of the first Champions League final 50 years ago and a brief review of this group match.

Thereafter, the Director of UEFA Club Competitions announced the rules of the draw:

Teams belonging to the same football association cannot meet (except Liverpool); teams in the same group cannot meet again in the group stage; teams with the same ranking in the group stage cannot meet; the second-ranked team in the group stage will play at home first.

After the announcement, UEFA CEO Olsson began to draw lots. The first to be drawn was the red ball which was Chelsea.

Immediately, there was an uproar at the scene, and everyone subconsciously looked at Barcelona's chairman Laporta and coach Rijkaard. What people expected was that Facchetti, who was the guest of the lottery, had a weird smile when he drew the green ball.

Immediately afterwards...the green ball with the English letters of Barcelona printed on it was announced.

Wow——
The place is boiling!
What's interesting is that after learning the result of the draw, the head coach Rijkaard and captain Puyol gave a high-five celebration, as if this was not the draw ceremony for the UEFA Champions League 1/8 finals, but the game was won.

Real Madrid was then drawn, and their opponent was the Premier League giants Arsenal.

Werder Bremen draw Juventus
Seeing this, countless Chinese fans began to regret.

The next draw is Bayern Munich, and their opponent is AC Milan.

"Ai, what do you think... who will our opponent be?"

The draw on TV has already decided four games, and when there are four more games left, David Villa asked a little nervously.

"Hey, I want to play against a strong team!"

At this moment, the third world-class giant that might run into Valencia --- Manchester United was drawn on TV.

"No way?" David Villa said in surprise, "You don't want to touch Manchester United, do you?"

Ai Luo didn't speak, just nodded.

"Damn it! Put your crow's mouth away!!!"

At this time, the eldest Marchena quickly covered Ai Luo's mouth, and at the same time, he did not forget to say the Chinese proverb he learned from Navarro, "Children's words are not restricted, children's words are not restricted!"

"The last powerful giant Manchester United has been drawn, so... who is their opponent next?" Facchetti, the draw guest, took out one of the only four red balls left from the red box.

Valencia!

PS: Three more recommendations!

(End of this chapter)