I work as a coach at Stamford Bridge

Chapter 131 Champions League Knockout Draw

Every December in the Premier League is the busiest time. This may also be the characteristic that distinguishes the Premier League from other major leagues. The Premier League does not have a winter break.

On the contrary, it is the time when the Premier League plays the hottest when other leagues are resting.

Chelsea just finished playing the League Cup on the 3rd, and will play the 6th round of the Premier League on the 16th, going to the Reebok Stadium away to challenge Bolton.

For the small clubs, this December is not bad, and there may not be many games. After all, the League Cup and the FA Cup may have been eliminated at this time. They only need to play well in the league.

The giants such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are different. They cannot say that in order to stay in the Premier League, they will give up the League Cup and FA Cup like the small clubs.

Every front, fans and management are probably watching.

In the 16th round of the league, Yunqiao played with all the main players. After all, the league is the foundation.

0:1, Drogba's goal allowed Chelsea to leave the Reebok Stadium happily, which is not perfect. Lewandowski was shoveled by the opponent in the second half, and it is conservatively estimated that he will have to rest for a week.That's not bad.

On the 10th, well, 10 games will be played within 3 days. The only thing that makes Yunqiao feel relieved is that he is not the only one who is so unlucky, Ferguson, Wenger, and Benitez are also having a hard time.

At home, they easily drew with Cluj 1:1, and the entire Champions League group stage has been played.

In Group A, Roma has 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss with 11 points, and Chelsea also has 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss with 11 points, but the relationship between the two sides, Roma ranks first in Group A.

Yunqiao didn't deliberately pursue the top spot. In the game against Cluj, all substitutes played, and it was a very boring game. As long as the team doesn't lose, it doesn't matter whether they draw or win.

In the middle of this week, the UEFA Champions League group stage is also completely finished, except for Roma and Chelsea who have qualified in Group A;

Group B qualified Panathinaikos and Inter Milan. Mourinho's team almost couldn't qualify. Except for Panathinaikos at the top of the list, the points of the next three teams were 8 points, 7 points and 6 points;
Group C qualifying is Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon;

Group D Liverpool and Atletico Madrid;

Group E Manchester United and Sevilla;

Group F Bayern and Lyon;

Porto and Arsenal in Group G;

Group H is Juventus and Real Madrid.

Almost all the famous giants in Europe have advanced. Of course, some down-and-out giants, such as Milan, have not qualified for the Champions League.

Both the Premier League and La Liga have advanced, with four teams entering the round of 16.

The next day was the draw for the knockout round, and Yunqiao was sitting in the office with all the assistant coaches watching. At this time, the opponent was really important, after all, it was the key point of whether he could advance to the next round.

For the team, advancing to the first round means getting closer to honor and getting more gold threads.

According to the lottery rules for this round, the top of the group will also avoid the No.2 of the other group.

Chelsea is No.2 in Group A, so his opponent can only be the top of the other 7 teams.Coupled with avoiding teams from the same country, Chelsea's opponents are actually only 5 teams.

"I really hope it's Porto and Panathinaikos." Makelele prayed with his hands, and it seemed that he wanted God to bless him.

Clark said happily: "With our strength, no matter who we meet, there will be no problem."

He is very confident, but Porto and Panathinaikos are indeed the worst-looking teams in the top 16, especially Panathinaikos. Don't look at Inter Milan, who beat Mourinho. The first place in Group B, but no one will take them seriously.

As long as Panathinaikos is drawn, it can basically be said to have advanced to the quarterfinals.

First, the team at the top of the list was drawn, Barcelona was first drawn, and then his opponent, Lyon from Ligue 2, well, it seems that Barcelona has already been sent to the quarterfinals, and Lyon is completely No. One of the two worst teams in [-].The other is Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

Then Manchester United was drawn, and his opponent, Inter Milan.Now, there will definitely be reports of UEFA manipulating the draw tomorrow. There is no problem with Manchester United and Inter Milan, but there is a story between Ferguson and Mourinho. Can their duel keep the ratings from rising?

Then there is Bayern, and his opponent is Sporting Lisbon, another team with a walk.

Without Bayern and Barcelona, ​​Chelsea's opponents can be reduced again.

Juventus was drawn in the fourth round, and then his opponent came out, Chelsea.

Now the whole Chelsea and Juventus are autistic. For Chelsea, Juventus is definitely not an easy opponent. The old lady has recovered from the "Phonegate" incident, and the Serie A team has always been offensive. Enemy of the team.

How can playing defense be better than Serie A, which is famous for its defense? Playing offense, understand the Italian chain defense.

So for Chelsea, Juventus is not an easy opponent to beat.

But for Juventus, their head coach is speechless. Chelsea is definitely the strongest No.2 team, and no one wants to meet them.

After all the draws are drawn, the knockout round will start on February 2009, 2. It will start at No.25's home court first, and what about the two sides.

Atletico Madrid: Porto
Lyon: Barcelona

Arsenal: Roma
Inter Milan: Manchester United

Real Madrid: Liverpool
Chelsea: Juventus
Seville: Panathinaikos

Sporting Lisbon: Bayern

It is difficult to say whether UEFA has the intention of manipulating such a match.

In the [-]-to-[-] matchups, four games were duels between giants, so that there would be topics to talk about, and it would not allow the giants to fight against each other in the top [-], and it would also allow the small ball to have one or two goals The team entered the next round, which guaranteed the interests of the small team.

Otherwise, if you change the opponent between Atletico Madrid and Porto, between Sevilla and Panathinaikos, there may be too many wipeouts.

Even if it is Atletico Madrid, they are not the team that will reach the Champions League final twice in the future, and their coach is not Simeone.

"Ole, Claude," Yunqiao called Solskjaer and Makelele. They looked over and were a little confused, not knowing what Yunqiao wanted to order.

Yunqiao thought for a while, "The next focus of your work is to find information about Juventus. The more detailed the better, I will let the technical analysis department fully cooperate with you."

Speaking of which, Yunqiao is not at all clear about the current situation of this Juventus team, and it is still necessary for them to find more information.

"Understood," Solskjaer and Makelele nodded. Apart from the league, the most important thing now is the Champions League. It is not easy to defend the title.

As for the League Cup and the FA Cup, the opponents are all Premier League teams, and they have done more in terms of intelligence and familiarity.

(End of this chapter)