golden ball prince

Chapter 177 Meeting You, Unlucky
(PS: This chapter is also very "watery". For the sake of the plot, there is not much content required. It is also recommended that book lovers choose carefully.)
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"In a Ligue [-] make-up match last night, Paris Saint-Germain beat Dijon away. For Paris Saint-Germain, which has just returned to the top of the league, it was not easy to win last night's game."

"Sissokko's red card in the opening 6 minutes made Paris Saint-Germain almost one less player throughout the game. The lack of one player on the field did damage Paris Saint-Germain's strength, but fortunately, the other players did not panic. Both teams had no achievements in the first half."

"In the second half, they changed sides and fought again. Thierne, who hadn't started for a long time, opened the scoring for Paris Saint-Germain."

"Then, Dijon defender Paule scored a header in the No.706 minute of the game to help the team equalize."

"But Dijon was not happy all the time. Gameiro's goal before the end of the game completely killed the game."

"..."

"Wang Zi, who started the game and played the whole game, missed several good opportunities in the game, and finally had to return empty-handed."

Listening to the sports news broadcast on the TV, Giroud ate breakfast very comfortably.

Wang Zi failed to score a goal, which is the best news for Giroud, because he scored twice in the past round of the league. In this way, the gap between the two in the scoring list is getting smaller and smaller.

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At 11:45 local time in Switzerland, the draw ceremony for the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and semi-finals was held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

The draw was presided over by UEFA Secretary-General Infantino, and the ambassador of the final host, Breitner, was the guest of honor.

Before the official draw, UEFA briefly introduced the eight clubs that have advanced to the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League.

The two top eight teams in La Liga are the defending champion Barcelona and Real Madrid, who have not lost in the Champions League this season.

Ligue [-], which also has two top eight teams, is Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille.

The Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and Portuguese Super League each have one club promoted. The four clubs are Chelsea, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Benfica.

As the only seedling in the Premier League, Chelsea's quarter-finals have kept the Premier League's tradition of always reaching the quarter-finals in the past 16 years, and only the Premier League has this record in major leagues.

Then, Infantino introduced the rules of the lottery. In the quarter-final draw, the lottery will be drawn randomly. There will be no seeded teams, teams in the same league will not be shunned, and opponents in the same group will no longer be shunned.

Subsequently, the draw for the quarter-finals was completed.

The specific draw results are as follows:

Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid.

Marseille vs Bayern.

Benfica vs Chelsea.

AC Milan vs Barcelona.

In the four games, the defending champion Barcelona and AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid were all opponents in the group stage, and now they meet again in the knockout stage.

In addition, Barcelona and Real Madrid, which are currently the most competitive for the championship, belong to different semi-finals, so the Spanish Derby in the semi-finals of the Champions League last season is now impossible to appear in the semi-finals again.

According to the results of the draw, the winners of Marseille and Bayern will meet the winners of Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in the semi-finals, while the winners of Benfica and Chelsea will face Barcelona or AC Milan.

At the same time, the result of the lottery can also be described as a few happy and some sad.

Before the draw, "Marca" stated that the Portuguese Super League and Ligue [-] teams are opponents that several other teams want to meet, because in terms of overall strength, the strength of these three teams is indeed a little lower. If Real Madrid or Barcelona can draw this team, it will definitely be a good thing.

As a result, although Barcelona failed to meet such an opponent, Real Madrid did. The La Liga media believed that this was simply a "big gift package" given away for nothing.

After all, in the group stage, Real Madrid double-killed Paris Saint-Germain. For such a top pick, in the eyes of many people, it is undoubtedly that UEFA is recommending Real Madrid.

Even though Paris Saint-Germain has Wang Zi, who is currently ranked second in the UEFA Champions League scorer list this season, Paris Saint-Germain does not have much power to resist against Real Madrid, who is facing Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuain, Kaka and other stars.

In addition, although the overall strength of Paris Saint-Germain under Ancelotti has been greatly improved, but Real Madrid has become stronger this season. Real Madrid under Mourinho now has the opportunity to compete for the championship on multiple fronts.

When the lottery met Real Madrid, Leonardo, who represented the club, also had a headache, but in the interview, he did not directly express his views on meeting Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Instead, he affirmed Paris Saint-Germain's performance in the Champions League this season. He said: "I am very grateful to Carlo Ancelotti and everyone around him, including the players. In the club, we played our roles well. The team's Champions League goal this season has been achieved. It is not easy for the "reborn" Paris Saint-Germain."

"In the next games, no matter who the opponent is, we will focus on each game and look back at the results before the end of the season. The Champions League is very important to us, and participating in the Champions League is also very important. We want to ensure that we can participate in the Champions League next season."

"Nowadays, everyone knows where they want to be at the end of the season, everyone knows what they want, everyone is pushing in the same direction."

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Like Paris Saint-Germain's quarter-final against Real Madrid, AC Milan and Barcelona are also a matchup from the same group.

But what is even more rare between AC Milan and Barcelona is that this is the third time the two teams have met after the restructuring of the Champions League.

The opponents in the group stage meet in the knockout round. The last time this happened in the Champions League was in the 2007-08 season, when Manchester United and Roma met in the quarter-finals after qualifying for the group stage.

In the 2006-07 season, Liverpool and PSV met in the quarter-finals after the group stage.

It is worth mentioning that the first two coincidences have one thing in common. Both Manchester United and Liverpool, who won the first place in the group, eventually entered the final of the UEFA Champions League, while PSV Eindhoven and Roma, who were second in the group before, were both eliminated.

The media with good news took this as news. They said in the article that if the encounter between AC Milan and Barcelona also conforms to this rule, then AC Milan will be eliminated and Barcelona will enter the final.

Therefore, Benfica's general manager Rui Costa changed his direction on personal social media to cheer for his old club: "We hope to meet AC Milan in the semifinals."

But in fact, Barcelona also does not want to meet AC Milan, because the opponents in this half area are stronger than the opponents in the half area where Real Madrid is located.

Two of the three weaker teams listed by "Marca" are in the half area where Real Madrid is located. Even if there may be a strong confrontation between Bayern and Real Madrid, it is better than the half area where Barcelona is located.

In the past three years, Barcelona has won the championship twice. Therefore, UEFA is "very worried" about this season's draw.

In Barcelona's half area, even if Barcelona beat AC Milan, then the winner of the next meeting against Chelsea and Benfica is likely to be Chelsea.

And it is precisely these two teams that give Barcelona the most headaches. AC Milan is one of the few teams that has drawn Barcelona twice in the four encounters in the past six years.

And Chelsea almost blocked Barcelona from the Champions League final in 2009.

Therefore, even if Barcelona can advance all the way to the final, it will at least have to shed a layer of skin, and it is more likely that it will be cheaper to the final opponent from another half of the region.

In the eyes of the media, the final is most likely to be the Spanish national derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

　Thanks to [Yaoyao Yaoyao] for the recommendation ticket, thank you!

　　
　　


(End of this chapter)