Chapter 405 Champions League Grouping, Portuguese Super Cup
Deng Kai twirled his fingers: "If Ronaldinho has replaced Quaresma, then many people also think that Kaká has replaced Viana, but it is not the case."
"Viana is essentially Quaresma in the middle of the midfield. They are rotor-type players. Their horizontal dribbling and turning breakthrough capabilities are much stronger than vertical dribbling. This is a soft breakthrough."
"Part of the reason is that their absolute speed is not fast enough. Ronaldinho is also this type of player. Although Ronaldinho's absolute speed is not slow, using his speed to pass people will make him feel ashamed."
"And Cristiano Ronaldo is a typical vertical breakthrough player, a quick word, simple but unsolvable."
Guardiola drew inferences from one example: "The rotor and the rotor cooperated, and the rhythm was delayed a bit. The speed dog and the speed dog cooperated, and each other occupied some space, and the defense was completely empty."
"So a rotor paired with a speed dog is most suitable."
Deng Kai looked at Guardiola: "I can see that you have some complaints about fast players. If you can't get up fast, don't you dislike fast players?"
Guardiola smiled awkwardly: "But Kaká, isn't he a speedy player? He's not a Brazilian player, and he feels quite samba when it comes to playing football, but his dribbling and ball-controlling skills are far inferior to Ronaldinho's, like a low-level rotor.
"
Deng Kai looked at Kaka who was practicing at the training ground outside and said: "That's because he is still pretending."
Guardiola: "Pretending?"
Deng Kai: "Well, pretend! Pretend to be a traditional Brazilian player, pretend to be what everyone imagines a Brazilian player should look like! He doesn't know how he should play."
"but I know!"
…
In August, with the emergence of this year's Champions League group stage groupings, fans can once again imagine the highest honor of European football clubs.
The luck of Sporting Lisbon can be said to be quite bad.
They were assigned to the death group!
The least well-known team in this group is Galatasaray, the absolute giant of the Turkish Super League.
According to the European League rankings released by UEFA, the Turkish Super League is ranked 11th, which is not a strong league. Compared with the Portuguese Super League, which is sixth in Europe, it is far behind.
But if you underestimate this team because of this, you are totally wrong.
If we say that the most impressive treble in recent years is the Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup that Manchester United won in the 1998-1999 season.
Then the UEFA Cup, Portuguese Super League, and Portuguese Cup that Sporting Lisbon won in the past 2000-2001 season are the most unexpected triple crowns.
And in between, actually... there is another Triple Crown winner.
Galatasaray also won the UEFA Cup, the Turkish Super League and the domestic cup in the 1999-2000 season!
From their perspective, they are a strong team that is not inferior to Sporting Lisbon!
Last year, although they only won one championship honor, they shocked people no less than the Triple Crown season.
They were the quarterfinals of last season's Champions League!
They even defeated the then Champions League champion Real Madrid before the start of the season to win the European Super Cup!
So this is definitely a standard strong team, even more difficult to deal with than the five major league teams.
Of course, this is just the easiest opponent Sporting Lisbon has encountered in this group.
The second strong enemy is PSV, one of the three giants of the Eredivisie.
And it is also the most popular giant in the past two years.
They have won the Eredivisie championship for two consecutive years, which is slightly stronger than Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Super League.
They have very rich experience in the Champions League, and their team's defensive expert "Mark van Bommel" and the successor of Ruud Ruud "Matthea Kežman" who was just introduced this year are very strong players.
In his first training match after joining the club, the latter reportedly scored a hat trick and conquered his teammates.
So far, both teams are better than Sporting Lisbon. After all, Sporting Lisbon has been away from the Champions League for too long.
If this is not disappointing, then the last team is really disappointing.
At least Ronaldo is desperate.
Do you still remember what Ronaldo said during the transfer window?
He thinks Lazio is a super team.
Well now, this super team appears on the list of his opponents.
The team with the overwhelming probability of appearing in this group is this Serie A Blue Eagle, Lazio!
The death group is against Sporting Lisbon, Galatasaray, and PSV.
The latter three can only compete for one qualifying spot when their strengths are similar, which is quite cruel!
Mendieta, Crespo, Inzaghi Jr., Salas, Simeone, Boboski, Stankovic, Stam, Nesta, Mihajlovic, Peruzzi... so luxurious
The lineup, this is a super lineup that won the Serie A championship, the Champions League championship, and the Italian Cup championship!
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No one would be surprised if the European skies turned blue this season.
This is Lazio at this moment.
Interestingly, they also introduced a player named simply "Caesar" from San Caetano, Brazil this season.
For a while, the media was already helping Lazio think about the second stage of the group stage.
The Champions League format at this time is quite special.
Last year, the Champions League had just been expanded. Thirty-two teams competed in the group stage, with the top two advancing to the top 16.
Then the sixteen teams were regrouped into groups of four, with the top two advancing to the Champions League quarterfinals.
So there are two stages of the group stage.
However, some teams are calling for the cancellation of the second stage of the group stage and making the 16th to 8th round a knockout round. This would allow them to play four fewer games and reduce the burden on the team.
If nothing else happens, in the 2003-2004 season, the second group stage will be canceled and become the well-known Champions League knockout format.
From here we can also see the gold content of the future Champions League king.
In an era with fewer games, our country has repeatedly broken records for goals in the Champions League in a single season. This is of course because of... the rise of offensive football.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ronaldo:???
Ronaldo: It’s like saying it has nothing to do with me, right? That’s typical!
"First there is Lazio and then there is another day, Galatasaray's Triple Crown is still in front of Sporting CP!"
"The Eredivisie and the Portuguese Super League are similar, but PSV's status is more secure than Sporting Lisbon!"
"Mendieta: Looking forward to another collision with Guardiola, and also want to experience the style of Matthaus and Deschamps!"
"Crespo: I do have a problem with the Portuguese Super League. They took away my European Golden Boot."
"Cristiano Ronaldo: I'm just a European bronze boot. It's Jardel who stole your golden boot. You go to Porto and the Brazilian team to take revenge!"
"Van Bommel: I can freeze Deng Kai, but the task of restricting Ronaldinho has a higher priority!"
"Kezman: There are rumors that Ronaldo did not go to Manchester United because Manchester United introduced Ruud van Nistelrooy. In my opinion, Manchester United made a right decision!"
"Deng Kai: When I heard Van Bommel's name, I thought he was an attacking midfielder, because I only remember Sneijder and Van der Vaart among the young Dutch midfielders!"
"Deng Kai: Kežman is Ruud van Nistelrooy's successor, Cristiano Ronaldo is Ruud van Nistelrooy's competitor, it's obvious which one is stronger!"
Deng Kai engaged in verbal battles with fellow scholars on social media.
However, Sporting Lisbon does not have time to reply one by one.
Because they are going to really face a tough battle.
They have to compete for the fourth trophy for last season, which is not yet completely over!
Portuguese Super Cup!
Sporting Lisbon vs Porto!
Porto has only one task, and that is to prevent the Sporting Lisbon miracle from getting worse.
Although they have long been a part of this miracle, their role in it is not glorious - they are just poor background panels.
This time, they will become the protagonists of the Portuguese Super League again!