Chapter 183: Champions League Draw, UEFA's Conspiracy!

Chapter 183: Champions League Draw, UEFA's Conspiracy!

On August 29th, at 5:45 PM, Monaco was aglow with bright lights in Monte Carlo.

Countless football stars and renowned coaches gathered to participate in the annual draw for the Champions League group stage.

A red carpet was rolled out at the venue, and on both sides of the carpet, countless journalists gathered, pointing their microphones and cameras at the stars and coaches of the major clubs as they descended from their luxurious cars.

The main stars of the two giants of the Spanish league, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, remained the most sought-after by journalists.

And the Welsh player Gareth Bale, who caused a sensation in the football world with his record transfer in the summer, was also surrounded by many journalists due to his high profile and enormous transfer fee.

Some observant journalists noticed that Cristiano Ronaldo didn't arrive with Bale, and although they both belonged to the same club, there was no interaction between them on the red carpet.

It seems the rumors are true; Bale's transfer fee may have surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo's record, leaving him very upset.

When the other half of the legendary duo, Messi, appeared, his expression was also serious.

Barcelona's performance in recent years hasn't been good; the team was eliminated in the semifinals twice in a row.

Last season, they were even embarrassingly eliminated 7-0 by Bayern Munich.

This left Barcelona with great resentment and desires for revenge against their rivals.

This season, they bought Neymar early, and the team prepared for a breakthrough.

But due to Tito Vilanova's cancer relapse, Barcelona experienced a coaching change during the summer.

Due to consecutive departures of Guardiola and Luis Enrique, Barcelona didn't have suitable candidates.

Finally, Rosell chose the obedient Martino as Barcelona's new coach.

Martino was mediocre in skills, and the public didn't have many expectations of him.

Everyone knew he was just a transitional coach; otherwise, Barcelona wouldn't have given him a short 2-year contract.

With multiple factors at play, before the matches of this season's Champions League even began, criticisms of Barcelona were already heard.

And as Barcelona's core and leader, most of the pressure fell on Messi's shoulders, who naturally wasn't very happy.

"The pressure on Messi is quite significant," commented Pellegrini, who had just arrived at the venue, when he saw Messi's entrance.

Lin Quan nodded when he arrived at the venue and saw Messi's entrance.

Last year, Pellegrini coached in La Liga, so he had something to say about it.

With experience from last year, Lin Quan wasn't as nervous in situations like this anymore.

He smiled and greeted the present journalists and fans, satisfying some autograph and photo requests, then entered the venue with a calm step.

Once inside, Lin Quan saw some familiar faces.

"Hey, over here!"

Borussia Dortmund player Reus saw Lin Quan enter and waved to him.

Lin Quan took a glance. The seats weren't marked with names, meaning players could choose their seats.

Given his position, he would definitely be close to the front. Although maybe not in the first row, at least in the second.

And Reus's position was in the fifth row, quite far back.

Sitting back meant less exposure on live television.

But Lin Quan didn't care much. He wasn't concerned with protocol and etiquette, and he sat next to Isco without worrying about ranks.

"Did you come alone?" Lin Quan asked curiously as he didn't see Reus's teammates.

"Lewandowski is injured, so I'm filling in for him," explained Reus, then asked, "How about you, do you like the Premier League?"

Reus looked Lin Quan up and down, as if he was checking if he was missing an arm or leg.

"Not bad, just that the defenders there are too enthusiastic. I always end up in close interaction with them!" joked Lin Quan.

"Close physical interaction? Do they tackle you to the ground?" Reus teased, although he had never played in the Premier League, he had heard about the league's playing style.

"Why don't you try it yourself?" Lin Quan responded, raising his hands in surrender.

"It seems like you, as a glass man, are giving up on the idea of going to the Premier League," Reus joked, acknowledging that if he were to go to the Premier League, with the intensity of the defenders' fouls there, his injury frequency would increase considerably.

"Are you still injured this season? Can't you talk to your coach and reduce your playing time? With his tactics, unless you're a Super Saiyan, you won't be able to endure it!" Lin Quan suggested with concern.

"Cough cough..." Just as Lin Quan finished speaking, he heard the cough of a middle-aged man beside him.

He looked to his side and saw Borussia Dortmund's coach, Klopp, sitting beside him at some point.

Lin Quan shot Reus an accusing look. This guy definitely saw that Klopp had come but didn't tell him.

Reus was enjoying the situation, as if he had succeeded in a plot.

"Lin, do you have any complaints against me?" Klopp asked curiously to Lin Quan.

"No, no, I greatly admire the achievements you and your team have reached," Lin Quan replied.

"Is that so? But just now I heard you were criticizing my tactics, isn't that right, Marco?" Klopp nodded repeatedly, as if he wanted to see if the guy could say something smart.

"No, that's not what I meant, coach, let me explain," said Lin Quan, not wanting to get into conflict with Klopp, with whom he had no relationship.

"Well, I'm listening," said Klopp with a satisfied smile, as if he was waiting for the guy to say something brilliant.

"High pressure is the trend of future football; its emergence will replace many current defensive tactics," explained Lin Quan, capturing Klopp's attention.

He didn't expect this young guy to have such a deep understanding of modern football development.

Klopp was a bit excited and said, "Go on!"

This significantly increased their success rate in the attack.

"But, it requires a lot from the players; they need to have the following characteristics: good technically, good physical condition, strong impact and execution. If there are only a group of foot soldiers on the field, maybe they can regain the ball, but it will be difficult for them to organize an attack.

If the players on the field lack speed and impact, the opponent will quickly occupy positions, even if there's only a defensive line, it will be difficult for them to penetrate it.

If the players' physical endurance is not enough or if their tactical execution is poor, they won't even be able to fulfill the high-pressure task.

Reus is the player who perfectly fits these requirements, so in his tactic, Reus's position could be even more prominent than Lewandowski's.

This also leads to Reus's assist being very high, but he's like a glass man, the higher his assist, the more severe his injuries, and maybe the final result will be even worse."

Reus protested on the side saying he's a glass man, but he was ignored by the two.

Klopp seriously pondered Lin Quan's words.

The departure of Götze this season was an additional blow to Dortmund, increasing offensive pressure for both Lewandowski and Reus.

The two already had many responsibilities, and further increasing their workload wasn't friendly to either of them.

Since Reus joined the team, he has had serious and minor injuries time and time again, and he really shows a tendency to become a glass man.

If they continue with this high workload, the team could really be affected by the injuries.

Thinking about this, Klopp nodded: "I'll take your suggestions seriously, thanks, Lin!"

This gratitude was sincere, as no one from an objective perspective had shared these things with him before.

Lin Quan was the first.

"No problem, I'm actually just talking nonsense, it's you who can really solve the problems!"

Lin Quan wasn't being modest, he really was just talking nonsense.

If he had to think about solving Dortmund's current problems instead of Klopp, he really couldn't do it.

Guardiola arrived late at the venue, just as the draw was beginning.

After entering, he hurriedly searched everywhere and finally found Lin Quan at the back.

Why is this kid sitting here?

He had just prepared to greet Lin Quan when he saw the scene where Lin Quan and Klopp were chatting animatedly.

This left Guardiola stunned for a moment, and after hesitating, he decided not to approach to avoid interrupting the two, and sat in another row with mixed feelings.

After conversing with Klopp, the drawing ceremony started immediately.

The two presenters in charge of conducting the drawing ceremony were Pedro Pinto from the sports channel CNN and the former Miss Switzerland of 1996, Marlene.

Before the drawing officially began, the presenters announced the list of the best players in Europe from the previous season.

Lin Quan, as the top scorer in the Bundesliga, was included in the final list.

But obviously, he was just there to accompany, and unless something unexpected happened, the award for the best player should go to Robben or Ribéry, heroes of Bayern's Champions League victory.

And as expected, the final award went to Ribéry, the scar-faced man.

Between him and Robben, the event judges chose Ribéry.

Although Robben redeemed himself in the final by scoring a crucial goal.

But for the professionals, Ribéry was more important to the team.

After the award presentation for the best player in Europe, the crucial moment arrived, the group stage draw.

According to the rules of the Champions League draw, the 32 participating teams are divided into four pots.

The eight teams with the most points are the top seeds in the first pot, and they are drawn first.

Then, one team is selected from each of the other pots to join each group.

According to the principle of avoiding teams from the same country in a group, if a team from a country is already in a group, the next team from that country moves to the next available group.

The eight top-seeded teams were quickly selected:

Group A went to Manchester United, B to Real Madrid, C to Portuguese Benfica, D to defending champion Bayern Munich, E to Chelsea, F to Arsenal, Barcelona went to group H, and the other Portuguese team, Porto, to group G.

Of the eight top-seeded teams, two are from La Liga, three from the Premier League, one from the Bundesliga, and two from the Primeira Liga.

Serie A and Ligue 1 don't have any top-seeded teams due to their poor performances in the Champions League.

However, the Primeira Liga, outside of the top five leagues, surprisingly has two top-seeded teams, something that grabs attention.

Of these eight top-seeded teams, the strongest are clearly Bayern, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.

Especially Bayern, as the defending champion, probably no one would want to be in their group.

After drawing the teams from the first pot, the Dutch football legend Cruyff appeared to draw the teams from the second pot.

Shakhtar Donetsk went to group A, Juventus to B, Paris Saint-Germain to C, CSKA Moscow to D, Werder Bremen to E, Marseille to F, AC Milan to H, and Atletico Madrid to G.

Among them, what surprised Lin Quan was that Werder Bremen was classified as a team from the second pot.

Their score in European competitions was even higher than that of Manchester City, which made him very curious: How bad were Manchester City's previous performances in the Champions League!

After the first two rounds of drawing, the groups of death had already been formed.

Those were groups B and H, Real Madrid together with Juventus and Barcelona with AC Milan.

Being the third to join these two groups would be difficult to advance.

Just then, neither of these two groups had teams from the Premier League, according to the principle of avoiding teams from the same country in a group, Manchester City could only go to five groups, which meant there was a 40% chance of being drawn into one of these two groups.

The people of Manchester City have already started to worry, could they be so unlucky as to be selected for these two groups?

The third presenter to appear was the English star Owen, who first drew Bayer Leverkusen for group A.

Then, he drew Galatasaray from the Turkish league for group B.

This result left Manchester City relieved, as there were only two groups of death, halving their chances.

After seeing this result, the people from Galatasaray showed no fear. Who fears Real Madrid or Juventus? With our local hell in the Turkish league, there's nothing to worry about!

However, the coaches of Real Madrid and Juventus, upon seeing this result, became serious.

The Turkish team was not as strong, but playing in Turkey was difficult, the fans there were especially crazy, and they were even willing to play in the cold of Eastern Europe instead of going to Turkey because when they were there, no one knew what accidents might happen.

The draw continued, and Olympiacos from the Greek league was drawn in group C.

Then, Owen drew another team and, after taking a look, smiled:

"Manchester City!"

The presenter quickly placed Manchester City's ball in group D, where Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, and Manchester City were already.

The cameras focused on Bayern's coach, Guardiola, but not on Manchester City's coach, Pellegrini, but on Lin Quan.

Lin Quan used to hear people say that the Champions League group stage draw was fixed, and he used to doubt it a little.

But now, he really believed it!

The showdown between Guardiola and Lin Quan, if this wasn't a deliberate trick by UEFA, he wouldn't believe it even if they killed him!

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