Chapter 244 The mysterious British visitor

On December 7, Hamburg welcomed Augsburg at home.

Hamburg won this game easily.

Hamburg, which played most of the main players, quickly took over the game and scored early.

In the 5th minute, Vardy took advantage of an indirect free kick to open the scoring for the team with a header.

Before the end of the first half, Kanter scored another victory, 2:0.

After changing sides in the second half, Salah and Wu Lei, who came on as a substitute, also scored goals one after another.

In the end, Hamburg defeated Augsburg 4-0 at home.

And this score is not the biggest disparity in this round of Bundesliga.

Werder Bremen played against Bayern Munich at home and actually scored 0:7!

Bayern went absolutely crazy, with Muller, Gotze, Robben, Mandzukic, Ribery and almost all attackers scoring goals.

This score seems like Bayern is demonstrating against Hamburg.

Because in the next round of the Bundesliga, which is the 16th round, they will face off against Hamburg!

Due to a strong dialogue in this round, Dortmund lost 0:1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen, which caused the gap between the top three and the top two to become even wider.

It can be said that the game between Bayern and Hamburg will definitely be a game that can determine the Bundesliga championship this season!

…

Before this game, Hamburg and Bayern will go to the European arena respectively to usher in the final round of the Champions League group stage.

In the first five games, Bayern's record was even better than Hamburg's. They had won all five games!

But they did not lock in the first place in the group like Hamburg.

That's because there is another team in Group D where they are still competing with them!

That is the new strong team in the Premier League, Manchester City.

Although Manchester City lost to Bayern 1:3 in the first round, they also achieved complete victories against the other two teams.

Therefore, in the final round of games, if Bayern overturns at home and loses to Manchester City by more than 2 goals, it will still give up its first place in the group!

This is Hamburg's biggest advantage before the decisive battle with Bayern.

That is, Hamburg can play a "friendly match" with Barcelona, ​​and then play Bayern in a leisurely manner.

Bayern, on the other hand, cannot be as relaxed as Hamburg. After all, Manchester City's strength cannot be underestimated. If they are accidentally snatched away from the top spot in the group, it will be a big joke.

For Bayern, playing at home may be the best news for them.

…

On December 11, in the final round of the Champions League group stage, Hamburg played Barcelona away.

Since the top two teams in the group were determined one round in advance, this game is not of great significance to both sides.

In addition, in the Spanish Serie A, the championship competition between Barcelona and Madrid has also reached a fierce stage, and they naturally do not want to be distracted by this kind of competition.

Therefore, both sides tacitly fielded substitute lineups, but they actually played a wonderful game.

After all, substitute players are sometimes more expressive than the main players, and when playing without pressure, the players can give full play to their imagination and play more relaxedly.

This is why the third and fourth place finals of the World Cup are often more beautiful than the finals.

The two sides ended up playing 2:2.

Among these four goals, one was Paulinho's long-range world wave from 35 meters away, while Barcelona had a delicate team goal after more than a dozen passes, which also made Nokan

The Pugh fans were delighted.

Therefore, after six rounds of games, Hamburg officially qualified as the group leader with 14 points from four wins and two draws!

With two wins, two draws and two losses, Barcelona accumulated 8 points and qualified second in the group.

In another match in Group H, AC Milan tied with Ajax 0:0 at home and ended up at the bottom of the group with only 4 points.

Ajax ranked third with 5 points and qualified for the Europa League.

Other groups have also successively determined their final rankings, and this season's Champions League top 16 has been born.

Manchester United is first in Group A and Leverkusen is second.

Real Madrid is first in Group B and Galatasaray is second. The Turkish giants suffocated Juventus to finish third in the group and qualified proudly.

PSG is first in Group C and Olympiacos is second.

Bayern is first in Group D and Manchester City is second.

Chelsea is first in Group E and Basel is second.

Dortmund is first in Group F and Arsenal is second. In this group, there was the tragedy mentioned before that Napoli was eliminated with 12 points. Correspondingly, Marseille was repeatedly tortured by the other three teams, losing all 6 games and finishing last.

Atletico Madrid is first in Group G, and Zenit St. Petersburg is second. Zenit can laugh at Napoli upstairs: I qualified with only 6 points, do you accept it?

Hamburg is first in Group H and Barcelona is second.

It can also be seen from this arrangement that in the highest level competition such as the Champions League, strength does still dominate.

Those who can rank first in the group are either traditional wealthy families, recent newcomers, or local tycoons.

The names ranked second are much inferior to those ranked first.

That is to say, Barcelona encountered Hamburg and was pushed to second place, causing one person in the second list to be particularly conspicuous...

Manchester City is relatively strong in the second place in the group, but it has only just emerged in the past two years. It is not a shame to be overtaken by last season's Champions League champion Bayern.

Including Arsenal, they have the same points as Dortmund, but they are ranked second because of goal difference.

Two days after the group stage ended, the draw ceremony for the Champions League knockout rounds was held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Because he had to prepare for the crucial battle with Bayern, Pan Yi did not go to the scene this time.

In fact, even if he is free, he is too lazy to go.

The process of this kind of lottery ceremony is almost the same every time. Just observe it once to satisfy your little wish. There is no need to go every time.

For the European media, the draw of the top 16 this time is actually mainly about seeing which lucky ones will take away the "big gift packages" for the second place in the group.

It seems that in order to create suspense for everyone, the crystal ball containing the names of the teams in these "gift packages" was not taken out until the end.

One match after another began to appear in front of the TV screen.

Galatasaray vs Atletico Madrid.

Zenit Saint Petersburg vs Borussia Dortmund.

Olympiacos vs Manchester United.

Basel vs Real Madrid.

Leverkusen vs Chelsea…

When we get to this point, everyone can actually predict what will happen in the end.

Because the only remaining top teams in the group are Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain and Hamburg.

The second place in the group is the recognized strongest teams, Arsenal, Barcelona and Manchester City.

For Hamburg, due to the principle of avoiding the same group, their opponents at this time are actually Arsenal and Manchester City.

As a result, Arsenal was drawn out first, and their opponent was their old friend Bayern Munich!

"Don't kill Bayern, thank you Barcelona..." The theme song of the Champions League does not deceive me.

And the last two pairs didn't even need to be drawn, because it was impossible for Barcelona to encounter Hamburg again.

So it is:

Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain.

Manchester City vs Hamburg.

They are all powerful conversations like Mars hitting the Earth!

In addition, there is another highlight of this round of 16 matchup, which is the comprehensive dialogue between the Premier League and the Bundesliga.

In addition to Manchester United and Dortmund being the first in the group and unable to be drawn together, Leverkusen vs. Chelsea, Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich, and Manchester City vs. Hamburg are just three of them fighting against each other!

After the draw results came out, the German media mainly expressed their unoptimism about the prospects of Leverkusen and Hamburg.

In the Premier League this season, the four best teams are Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Although Arsenal currently ranks first in the Premier League standings, the German media still believes that Bayern can still handle Wenger's team and there is no need to worry too much.

But this year, under the leadership of new coach Mourinho, Chelsea has returned to the championship. With Leverkusen's current state, it may be difficult to pass this level.

Manchester City is also very strong. The team of Chilean engineer Pellegrini also defeated Bayern in the last round of the group stage, and finally ranked second with 15 points with the King of South Korea.

Of course, the strength of a team that can defeat Bayern in an away game cannot be underestimated.

Therefore, even though Hamburg is currently in good shape, the German media still expressed concerns, believing that Manchester City is likely to be the biggest dark horse in this Champions League. Hamburg should be careful.
To be continued...