Chapter 13 Champions League Grouping

In the third round of Serie A, the bad state of Degan and Fiorentina seems to be continuing. The away game against Maradona's former team Naples, Fiorentina scored a goal in the first half of the game, but the goal was not Degan, but Cavinaghi, who headed in from Pasquale's wide cross gave his team the lead.

The score of 1:0 lasted until the 79th minute of the second half. Seeing that Fiorentina could pocket the victory of this game, but in the last ten minutes, the situation on the field changed suddenly. Naples' number one star Lavezzi kicked his head and scored two goals in a row, helping Naples overtake the score.

If it weren't for Cannavaro's own goal at the last moment, Fiorentina would usher in a wave of two-game losing streak at the beginning of the league.

In this game, Degan's poor state continued. Although he had a few chances throughout the game, his finishing touches were outrageous and his contribution to the team was basically zero.

After the game, the major media also rushed to report. The general tone of the people is that Degan is in big trouble. In the first round of the Italian Super Cup and Serie A, he scored six goals crazily. All his good luck was overdrawn.

In this regard, Degan remained silent for a rare time, which made those media who disliked Degan even more cheered, and the two media, Gazzetta dello Sport and Poste de Turin, lashed out at length. Degan, according to them, if Degan doesn't retire immediately and get out of the football field, he will be sorry to everyone in the world.

Everyone thought that Degan would be furious, but surprisingly, this time Degan was rare and quiet. After the game, Prandelli and Degan boarded the plane to Zurich, Switzerland, to participate in the UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony.

Like the results of previous draws, this season's UEFA Champions League grouping is still full of stories, grievances and grievances, and exciting plots.

Group A: Chelsea, Roma, Club Brugge, Bordeaux.

After the draw was announced, Chelsea was quickly favored by major European bookmakers. Apart from their strength, they were also optimistic about their grouping situation to a certain extent. The battle is at a disadvantage, and it seems that there is still no way to deal with the Premier League teams.

Bordeaux led by Blanco is a disruptive team. Although they won the Ligue 1 runner-up last season, they have to admit that they seem to be short of something on the stage of the Champions League. The team's most famous The player is Gourcuff on loan from AC Milan, but it is difficult to pose a real threat to Chelsea. The rational goal should be to compete with Roma for another qualifying spot.

As for the last team, Bruges, everyone knows that they are bastards. The most practical idea is to strive for the third place in the group. After participating in the group stage, they will move to the UEFA Cup.

Group B: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis.

There is no doubt that Inter Milan has drawn another good lottery. In this group, apart from Werder who can't reach Bremen, the remaining Panathinaikos and Anorthosis are too weak. Mourinho The team may lock in the right to qualify early, but at the same time, we must also beware of Werder Bremen from the Bundesliga. This team has accumulated considerable experience in the Champions League after several years of training, but in general the international Milan shouldn't have any problems qualifying from the group.

Group C: Barcelona, Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon.

The situation in this group is similar to that of Group B, even Barcelona's grouping is better than Inter Milan, whether it is Sporting Lisbon, Basel or Shakhtar Donetsk, there is a big gap with Barcelona in terms of strength and experience .

What Barcelona needs to pay attention to is that it may be winter to go to Ukraine to compete, and fighting in harsh environments is not what Barcelona, a team that pays attention to ground coordination, is good at. In addition, their contest with Basel is also very interesting, because Joan Gamper, the founder of Barcelona, is a Basel fan. In fact, the styles and colors of the jerseys of the two teams are almost exactly the same.

Group D: Liverpool, PSV, Marseille, Atletico Madrid.

The situation of this group is not so clear. In a sense, this is the group with the most confusing form of qualifying. Liverpool is undoubtedly the favorite to qualify, but the other three teams are close in strength, and any situation is possible. .

Judging from the history of confrontation, Liverpool seems to have a certain advantage. In the past three years, Liverpool and Eindhoven have played against each other four times. Liverpool has 3 wins and 1 draw. They have a clear advantage. Last season, in the key battle of qualifying for the group, they swept away 4-0. Marseille, but it is worth mentioning that Liverpool also lost to Marseille at home, which led to the situation of life and death in the last round of qualifying, so whether the group can appear depends on the third place in Ligue 1, Marseille, and the fourth place in La Liga. Delhi Atletico scramble.

And the style of these two teams is not the team that Benitez "likes". From the analysis of Liverpool's strength and status, Liverpool will have an advantage in considering comprehensive factors such as experience.

Benitez has previously stated that the focus of this season will be on the Premier League, but he cannot help being sloppy in the face of such a grouping situation. It is also worth noting that the match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid will be a direct confrontation between Torres and Aguero, the two generations of golden boys of the "Sheets Legion".

After the announcement of the draw for this UEFA Champions League, there is no clear death group, and the strength of each group is relatively average. But Liverpool's luck is not good. Liverpool and PSV, Marseille, and Atletico Madrid are in the same group. This result makes the Red Army very cautious. It is possible for any of the four teams to win. Whoever wants to eat whoever It's not easy either.

After the draw ceremony, the head coach Benitez said in an interview that none of the three opponents in the group is easy to play: "The teams are very close, so it is impossible to say which one is particularly challenging. In other words, there is no one that can be easily faced, all we have to do is to deal with it carefully!"

To some extent, this kind of grouping is more severe than being in the same group with a giant, but there are still "big belly" in the group that can win relatively easily.

The closeness in strength means that every game must be fought hard, which means that there is no room for adjustment in rhythm, and if there is a slight mistake, Liverpool may fall into a precarious situation like last year.

Liverpool's thrilling elimination of Belgian Standard Liege in the UEFA Champions League qualifying round, coupled with the first two rounds of the Premier League, revealed that the current situation of the Red Army is not ideal, especially after breaking the frontcourt system of Torres and Gerrard, the team's offensive The efficiency is not as good as before. For Benitez, the grouping has become an established fact. In addition to studying the opponent, the next thing to do is to adjust their own state and straighten out the overall Red Army. The key is probably more.

Group E: Manchester United, Villarreal, Aalborg, Celtic.

Compared with Liverpool's grouping, Manchester United's Group E is much more flat. Although they have drawn the La Liga runner-up Villarreal that no one may want to meet, the strength of the two teams is higher than Celtic and Celtic. There are quite a few in Aalborg, and for Manchester United, such a grouping has a little bit more meaning of revenge.

In the 2005/2006 season, Manchester United and Villarreal were in a group. As a result, the two games were 0-0. Rooney was sent off with a red card. Manchester United failed to qualify in the final group. However, today is not what it used to be, and this time Manchester United, which is aiming to win the championship, should not capsize in the gutter again.

Group F: Fiorentina, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest.

This is the second "death group" besides Group D. Except for the slightly weaker Steaua Bucharest, the overall strength of Lyon, Bayern Munich and Fiorentina is not much different.

The defending champion Fiorentina's captain Digan expressed his satisfaction with the result of the draw in an interview afterwards, and he was looking forward to the group top battle with Bayern Munich.

"In general, I am very satisfied with the result of the draw. As the defending champions, we will look forward to the start of the game. Bayern Munich is an opponent I like very much, and I am also very much looking forward to this will be a wonderful contest."

As for the other two opponents in the group, Degan didn't take them seriously at all. Whether it was Celtic, the overlord of the Soviet Super League, or Steaua Bucharest, a veteran European team, they were still far away from challenging Fiorentina.

Group G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kiev.

Arsenal seems to be assigned to an easy group, but in fact it is not. Historically, Arsenal and Porto have played against Porto in the 2006/2007 season. The away game was tied 0:0, and the home game was won 2:0. Against Dynamo Kiev, Arsenal had painful memories. They went to Ukraine twice and ended in failure.

Moreover, Fenerbahçe is dominated by a group of Brazilian players. They have a good record in the European arena in the past two seasons, and the atmosphere of the Devil's home court makes them a difficult team to deal with. Porto and Kiev have also accumulated a lot of European experience this year. If Arsenal want to pass the test, they need to fight hard.

Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St Petersburg, Borisol.

Real Madrid and Juventus are a pair of enemies in the Champions League. The two teams are divided into Group H. It seems that the situation is sinister, but the remaining two teams, Zenit and Borisol, still have a chance to shake these two giants. Certain difficulty.

Among them, Real Madrid and Juventus' path to qualifying depends more on the record of last season's UEFA Cup champion Zenit. However, the latter is in a state of "turbulence". In short, although Real Madrid and Juventus are in a group, the possibility of qualifying together is still very high.

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