Every year at the end of August, Monaco becomes the focus of fans around the world.
The annual Champions League group stage draw and UEFA awards ceremony will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
Su Dong received an invitation from UEFA very early. Later, fearing that he would not be willing to participate, he successively called through Manchester City management, Messi, Xavi and others, and even Platini personally called to invite him to attend.
This grand event.
Last season's Champions League lost Su Dong, and it was obviously eclipsed a lot. Now that Su Dong has made a comeback, it is naturally the focus of the Champions League's hype, and it has attracted the attention of media and fans around the world.
This is the first time in Manchester City's history that they have participated in the Champions League.
The newly promoted team winning the championship has always been a myth talked about in world football.
The one that is most praised is Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga. This is mainly because it is the closest. In the late 1990s, under the leadership of head coach Rehagel, Kaiserslautern created the myth of the newly promoted team winning the championship.
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There is no such precedent in the Premier League so far, but it has happened before in English League One before the birth of the Premier League, and it happened twice.
In 1961, Ipswich Town was promoted to League One under the leadership of legendary coach Alaf Ramsey, and miraculously won the League One championship in 1962, creating a new era.
It was the first time in the history of England's top league that a newly promoted team won the title.
Fifteen years later, Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough once again repeated this myth, and this time Clough did it more thoroughly. After winning the League One championship, he represented League One in the Champions League and also
In his first appearance in the Champions League, he historically won the Champions League title.
That's it?
No, Clough's team successfully defended the title in the second season after winning the Champions League!
Although Nottingham Forest has always been stuck in the lower leagues and lost the right to advance in the Premier League play-offs this summer, the glory of this team more than 30 years ago is still exciting to this day.
In the history of the Champions League, Nottingham Forest is not the first team to win the championship in its first appearance.
In the 1950s, when the Champions League was founded, there were only twelve teams. Real Madrid, which won the first Champions League, became the first team in history to win the Champions League for the first time.
In 1964, Inter Milan participated in the Champions League for the first time. After going all the way, they defeated Real Madrid in the final and became the second team to win the Champions League for the first time.
Just three years later, the Celtics from the Scottish Premiership made a sensation on their debut and successfully became the third team.
Therefore, strictly speaking, Clough's Nottingham Forest is the fourth team in the history of the Champions League to win the Champions League in its first appearance.
In 1982, after winning the English League One championship, Aston Villa participated in the Champions League for the first time, defeated Bayern Munich in the final, won the Champions League, and became the fifth legendary team.
In the 55-year history of the Champions League, a total of five legendary teams have been born that won the championship in their first appearance.
But the most recent time was in 1982, twenty-nine years ago.
Then why did a total of five teams emerge that won the championship in their first appearance in the first twenty-six years, but there were no more teams in the following twenty-nine years?
L'Equipe said in its analysis that this is because the threshold for winning the Champions League has become higher and higher.
In the past, the Champions League was a cup competition with not many participating teams. Only the winning teams in the league were allowed to participate. There were fewer games, the possibility of upsets was higher, and the requirements for the teams were relatively lower.
This is just like the FA Cup in England. The single knockout format makes the FA Cup known as a hotbed of upsets.
However, with the restructuring of the Champions League, especially in recent years, the Champions League has continued to expand. In addition to the championship teams, teams at the top of the league can participate in the competition. It seems that there are more participating teams, and many teams can
Playing in the Champions League, in fact, is precisely because there are more participating teams and more games. If all teams want to win, they not only need stronger strength, but also have to be in excellent form throughout the season.
The group stage is more about testing the overall strength of the team. Only the top two with outstanding strength and better condition can advance to the knockout rounds. The subsequent knockout matches are basically strong dialogues. Without sufficient outstanding strength and condition, it is difficult to stratify.
Level promotion.
Moreover, since the Bosman Act, player movement has become more and more convenient, and high-level players have begun to gather towards wealthy teams, which has made the threshold for winning the Champions League higher and higher.
There are many middle and lower-tier teams in various leagues. After an accidental outbreak, they performed in amazing form, achieved a good ranking in the league, and even won the championship. However, in the subsequent summer transfers, it was difficult for them to have enough players.
They have no financial resources to retain their own stars, and the turnover of personnel has become very serious.
Therefore, in the next Champions League competition, it will be difficult to have the strength to compete for the championship.
This is why in the first twenty-six years, there were five teams that won the championship for the first time in the competition, but in the following twenty-nine years, there was not even one.
So do Manchester City have a chance to become the sixth team?
After the first three rounds of the Premier League, everyone was surprised to find that Manchester City's strength has not weakened compared to last season, but has become stronger, and Guardiola's tactics have become more mature and stable.
A team like this has a chance to compete for this historic honor.
However, as L'Equipe said, Manchester City wants to win the Champions League for the first time, which is as difficult as winning the lottery.
When star player Su Dong and technical director Begiristain were blocked by media reporters at the entrance of the Grimaldi Conference Center and asked about Manchester City's views on the draw and what they thought of the outside world's expectations, Su Dong said that it was too far away.
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"I have played in many Champions League games, so I know that in a competition like the Champions League, it is not normal to think about things that are too far away. All of us, from the management to the coaching staff to the players, should be down-to-earth and play well.
The next game.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Su Dong also mentioned the current grouping situation of the Champions League.
This is the first time Manchester City has participated in the Champions League. Although winning the Europa League last season helped the points, Manchester City is still ranked in the third tier. What does this mean?
The first pot is the eight strongest seeded teams, the second pot is also strong teams like AC Milan, Lyon, Valencia and Villarreal. Even in the third pot, there are also Manchester City and Lille.
, Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax and other teams.
Not to mention the fourth gear, Dortmund and Naples are the standard configuration of the death group.
In other words, leaving aside the third pot, it is a high probability that Manchester City will be drawn into the group of death.
Or it should be said that whoever is unlucky to draw Manchester City will be unlucky enough to fall into the group of death.
This is true for opponents, but isn't it also true for Manchester City themselves?
Who wants to encounter the group of death from the beginning?
Six games, how much is the consumption?
Therefore, to a certain extent, European war points and Champions League group draws are also important factors that prevent non-strong teams from going further in the Champions League.
Of course, if Manchester City's luck is so good that the team in the first pot draws the weakest Porto, the team in the second pot draws Marseille or Benfica, and the fourth pot avoids Dortmund and Naples, then Manchester City's luck will indeed be the same.
exploded.
But you really shouldn’t expect too much of this kind of good luck.
…………
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As soon as Su Dong and Begiristain entered the Grimaldi Conference Center, they immediately became the center of attention.
The reason is very simple. Manchester City has now been labeled as the group of death, and whoever touches it will be unlucky.
More importantly, Su Dong.
No one wants to meet Su Dong in the Champions League group stage. This is terrible!
Su Dong and Begiristain stood for a moment at the entrance, looking around. The first thing they saw was Messi walking towards them.
"Hey Sue!"
"Leo."
The two embraced warmly, and then Iniesta also came to greet them.
"Long time no see, Su!"
Many Barcelona players participated in the draw and awards ceremony tonight, including Xavi and Puyol.
What made Su Dong feel very irritated was that Puyol appeared in such a serious occasion wearing very casual clothes. This was simply too unusual in the Grimaldi Conference Center where everyone was in suits and ties.
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"Yellow T-shirt, gray plaid shorts, perfect!" Su Dong kept nodding his head and giving a thumbs up.
Everyone around suddenly burst into laughter.
Puyol's outfit certainly brought him a lot of attention.
"Does it look good?" This guy opened his arms shamelessly and asked.
"Very elegant, calm, and calm. With your... um... lion-like hair, I'm just... um..."
At the end of Su Dong's speech, he really couldn't make it up anymore. He shook his head and smiled bitterly, complaining: "Nimei, did you forget to bring your suit when you went out? Go back and change quickly!"
The crowd burst into laughter again.
In fact, Puyol was really wronged.
When the whole Barcelona team came to Monaco, they were wearing the same clothes he is wearing now, with the Barcelona team emblem on the chest.
Logically speaking, if you want to attend such a formal occasion, you should put on formal clothes. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and others are like this, but Puyol didn't want to, so he just wore this one.
coming.
It’s impossible for UEFA to say that they won’t let you in if you dress like this, right?
"You know, we don't have a team logo on our suits." Puyol pulled up the team logo on his chest and said seriously.
Harvey shook his head helplessly, "He was injured and couldn't play in the Super Cup, but he wanted to help the team win, so he came to the party wearing this suit, saying he wanted to contribute to tomorrow's game."
Su Dong was confused and felt a crow fly overhead.
Damn, does dressing like this have anything to do with tomorrow's game?
The brain circuits of Spanish players are indeed quite strange!
"Then you are really in vain!" Su Dong laughed.
Isn't tomorrow's Super Cup pitting the Champions League champions Barcelona against the Europa League champions Manchester City?
Su Dong immediately decided to stay away from Puyol.
Those who are close to red are red, those who are close to stupid are stupid.
