The strongest winger

Chapter 382 The best striker in the Champions League?
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When Thuram was interviewed after the game, he took the initiative to admit his mistakes. He should not have underestimated Aiello before the game. It is not until now that he knows why Zidane, who retired after the World Cup, has been praising Aiello.

Fengchidianqing’s speed, unparalleled technology, and calm mind, the most important thing is that Ai Luo is also very hardworking, these are the necessary conditions to become a superstar, and these are reflected in a player, he has no reason for his failure.

Of course, Thuram did not disclose these to the media.

But this did not prevent the media from praising Aiello after the game.

Football matches are like this, winners and losers, if you win, the media will lick your toes with their mouths, but if you lose, then you will be miserable, no matter how humble you are next, you will be stepped on and worthless.

And now Aiello is the winner, while Barcelona is the loser.

So... On the second day after the end of this game, the media all over Spain were singing the praises of Valencia's victory.

Of course, except for a few media in Catalonia.

The enemy of an enemy is a friend, which is fully reflected in "Marca" and "Aspen".

"Before the first round of the Spanish Super Cup before the start of the new season, the two teams did not arrange a warm-up match for themselves before the battle, so neither side knew the depth of the other side, so this game at the Nou Camp was a stage of mutual testing, but what I didn't expect was that Ai actually seized Barcelona when they were adapting to the new season, and beat Thuram, who played all seven games on behalf of the French team this summer, and headed the ball into the goal..."

"...It is worth mentioning that Valencia's second goal to seal the victory was Ai's breakthrough into the penalty area and pass back to his teammates after breaking through Oleg and Thuram. The newly joined German national team captain Ballack shot angrily at the ball to expand the lead on the field. This goal also gave Ballack the confidence in La Liga, making him more handy in the next game, and his partner Albelda completely controlled the rhythm of the field."

Headlines from the Marca newspaper.

The reports of "Aspen" are similar, but there is one thing that caught Rijkaard's attention, "After the 05-06 La Liga top scorer Ai went through the crazy outbreak of last season, he also quickly found his form before the start of the league this season. At the same time, he has also become more mature. The second goal of the team is his selfless performance. When he is fully capable of hitting the goal, he passed it to Ballack, who is in a better position. Therefore, Valencia this season is more worth looking forward to..."

On the second day after the game ended, "Mundo Deportivo", as the mouthpiece of Barcelona, ​​naturally stood up and explained for the team at the first time, "As we all know, Barcelona is a world-class giant, and there are naturally many international players in the team, and these international players participated in the World Cup held in Germany this summer. Naturally, the FIFA virus they suffered was much more serious than Valencia, so it is normal for the state to be in a downturn in this game..."

"...I believe that at the end of the second round, which will determine the ownership of this year's Spanish ultrabook championship, Barcelona will definitely find the state of the game and beat the home team Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium to win the first championship of the new season."

"World Sports Daily" is full of confidence in Barcelona, ​​and so are all Barcelona fans. It should be an accident that Barcelona scored two goals at home, because they are the European champions!
How could it be possible to lose to the Spanish league champions?

Even Barcelona's players thought so. Before the game, Barcelona's captain Puyol and team vice Xavi also expressed their confidence in the second round.

But three days later, the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup at the Mestalla Stadium left them speechless, because Valencia, led by Aiello and Ballack, gave Barcelona, ​​who was confident in the second leg, a 3-0 at home.
Now not only the fans have questioned Barcelona's performance in the new season, even the head coach Rijkaard, who led the team to the Champions League last season, was hinted by the team's top management.

Rijkaard shook his head with a wry smile, this is professional football!

Especially in this kind of world-class wealthy team, any missteps will lead to doom.

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"...a victim of the FIFA virus."

The mainstream media in Europe describe Barcelona in this way.

But most of the Spanish media don't think so. You must know that half of the players in this Valencia team are Spanish international players. Could it be that Barcelona's players are international players, so aren't Valencia players?
"Aspen" looked at this issue from a relatively neutral perspective, "The end of each World Cup will always cause panic for the rich teams. Injuries and poor state will always limit the record of the rich teams in the league, because the rich teams often have the most international players. It is obvious that Valencia is in a better state in the Super Cup that started before the season, but... From another perspective, Valencia values ​​​​this kind of game more than Barcelona, ​​​​because..."

"Aspen" also listed a lot of data in the middle, "The running range of the Valencia players is nearly 5000 meters longer than that of the Barcelona players. The ten players except the goalkeeper run 1500 meters more than every player in Barcelona. Don't underestimate the 1500 meters, because active running can often increase opportunities. It can be seen from Valencia's first and third goals in the second round of the game..."

"Marca" said very directly, "Last season's Champions League championship has made many players in the team lose their goals, because most players in the team have already won the La Liga championship and the UEFA Champions League championship. It can be said that there is nothing else to ask for."

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These comments before the start of the new La Liga season have little to do with Valencia. They are actively preparing for the first league game at home in a week.

But before that, three days after Valencia won the Spanish Super Cup, head coach Flores flew to Monaco with captains Canizares, Aiello and Albelda.

Because the new season's UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony and the annual awards ceremony of the UEFA Champions League last season are about to begin.

The players who accompanied Flores to Monaco are all expected to win the best of last season.

As the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League last season and the holder of the single-season scoring record in the UEFA Champions League, Aiello is naturally a strong contender for the best forward and best player.

However, in terms of the most valuable player, it is slightly inferior to Ronaldinho who led the team to the championship.

Canizares is expected to be the best goalkeeper, while Albelda is expected to be the best midfielder. Of course, as the head coach, Flores can lead the team to the Champions League semi-finals in his first season in charge of Valencia, and he is also a strong contender for the best coach.

At four o'clock in the afternoon that day, the draw ceremony for the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League group stage was held at the Grimaldi Convention and Culture Center in Monaco.

This is the first time Aiello has come to the Grimaldi Conference and Culture Center in Monaco, but this time there are quite a few acquaintances who came to the scene, not to mention players from Barcelona and Real Madrid, Arsenal captain Henry is one, and Aimar who has transferred to Chelsea is also one...

So when he entered the conference culture center, many people greeted him.

Out of politeness, Ai Luo also had to respond.

When he finished responding to all his acquaintances, it was not over, because the mainstream media in Europe also focused on him, and he was very competitive to be the most valuable player in the UEFA Champions League last season.

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Valencia, as the champion of the UEFA Cup in the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons, coupled with the semi-final results of the Champions League last season, made them a natural first-tier team.

Valencia is also seeded with last season's champion Barcelona, ​​and six other top-six teams: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.

At five o'clock, the drawing of lots officially began.

Barcelona, ​​the defending champion, was drawn in Group A, while Aiello's Valencia was drawn in Group D.

What's interesting is that when the second-tier team in Group A was drawn, the director in charge of switching the camera gave the camera to Chelsea's head coach Mourinho, and the team that was finally drawn in the same group as Barcelona was Barcelona's opponent in the 1/8 finals—Chelsea.

Ai Luo, who was sitting on the right of Captain Canizares, laughed lightly. If it was such a coincidence, he really didn't believe it.

Hype and hatred have always been UEFA's common means to expand the influence of the UEFA Champions League.

The second team drawn to Group D is Roma.

After the head coach Flores saw his opponent, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, but Ai Luo shook his head, the opponent was a bit weak...

Then after Real Madrid's Group E was drawn to Lyon, there was another noise at the scene, what a coincidence...

After drawing this, it will be the award for the best goalkeeper of last season, and the three candidates for the best goalkeeper are Buffon of Juventus, Canizares of Valencia and Lehmann of Arsenal.

In the end, Lehmann won the award by conceding only two goals in the knockout round.

The draw ceremony continues.

It was no surprise to draw all the way to the second tier of Group H, but the climax came when the teams in the third tier were drawn.

Gao Lin's Werder Bremen was drawn to Group A, so the Chinese sports media who were destined to be present burst into mourning.

There was nothing particularly exciting in the following draw ceremony, until the draw was close to the end of the award for the best striker.

Because Aiello broke the dusty single-season scoring record for many years with 16 Champions League goals, everyone's attention is now on him, because there is no suspense.

But when UEFA CEO Lars Christ Olsen, who was the guest of honor, opened the sealed card, he was taken aback for a moment, and then turned the card in his hand helplessly.

The name above is not Ailuo, but... Eto'o!

(End of this chapter)