Chapter 304 Why are you afraid of whatever comes?

Before facing Everton's challenge on August 31, Chelsea must first usher in the draw ceremony for this season's Champions League group stage.

On August 20th and August 27th, the Champions League group qualifying rounds also completed the final round of play-offs.

In this case, the thirty-two teams that have reached the group stage of the Champions League this season have also been officially announced.

In the play-offs, the most eye-catching one is Arsenal from the Premier League.

After defeating Besiktas from Turkey with a total score of 1:0, they also entered the Champions League group stage for the 17th consecutive season - an achievement that only Real Madrid can match.

In other words, since Wenger coached Arsenal in 1996 and won the Premier League and FA Cup double in the second season, and then qualified for the Champions League in the third season, it has been

Never been absent once.

This also shows how stable Arsenal's results were when Wenger was in office.

Although everyone later joked that Arsenal competed for the top four every year, after Wenger left, they realized that the Champions League is not a place where you can come and participate if you want...

After Arsenal entered the group stage again this season, with their stable performance in the Champions League in the past few years, the points they gained in the European Cup can also occupy the position of a first-tier team.

In other focus matches, Napoli from Serie A lost to Athletic Bilbao from La Liga with a total score of 2:4, while Porto from the Portuguese Super League defeated Lille from Ligue 1 3:0.

Schalke 04, fourth in the Bundesliga last season, swept Danish team Copenhagen 7:2 and easily advanced to the group stage.

As a result, the classification of the 32 teams has been completed.

According to the UEFA Champions League draw rules, the top 32 teams are divided into 4 levels according to UEFA's points system. The first-level seed teams include the previous champion Hamburg and the other 7 teams with higher European competition points.

That is: Hamburg, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal.

What needs to be noted is that although Hamburg unexpectedly won the Champions League last season and won a lot of games, because the European War points are calculated based on the total points in the past five seasons, if the seeds are ranked entirely based on points

As for the team, it is impossible for Hamburg to be ranked first.

It can only be ranked in third gear at most.

Even their points are not much higher than those of the teams in the fourth tier. They are at the bottom of the third tier.

This is actually quite normal.

The number of European points that can be obtained by winning a championship is only 30 to 40 points, and as long as many teams can participate in the European competition every year, and as long as the average score is less than 10 points, the total points can surpass Hamburg.

.

In the second tier of teams, since the three old strong teams Manchester United, AC Milan and Inter Milan have not qualified for the Champions League this season, Manchester City and Zenit, whose European war points rankings are lower than them, have become the second tier teams;

Other second-tier teams include Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Shakhtar Donetsk, Basel, Porto, etc.

The teams in the third pot are Schalke 04, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, Liverpool, Sporting CP, Galatasaray, and Athletic Bilbao.

Liverpool here is worth mentioning, because they have also not participated in the Champions League for a long time, so they can only be ranked in the third tier.

The teams in the fourth tier are mostly regulars in the European group stage. They are Anderlecht, Roma, APOEL, BATE Borisov, Ludogorets, Maribor,

Monaco, Malmö.

This kind of lottery situation is much better for Pan Yi than it was in Hamburg.

After all, Hamburg was a fourth-tier team back then, and it could really be said that no matter how you drew, there would be no good prospects.

And now Chelsea is the first team!

This has a natural advantage. They don't have to consider facing the top teams in the Champions League such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and Bayern.

In addition, Manchester City, the most thorny player in the second pot, and Liverpool, the most difficult to deal with in the third pot, are both Premier League teams. Due to the country's avoidance principle, Chelsea cannot be drawn with them.

If we were to draw among the remaining teams, no matter how bad Chelsea was, it would be impossible to draw a group of death like before.

"Fortunately, it's impossible to get a hamburger." Pan Yi said with a smile.

On the evening of August 28, in Chelsea's head coach's office, Pan Yi and several coaches were watching the live TV broadcast and waiting for the draw ceremony to begin.

"According to UEFA's rules, if we are not in the same league, it might be possible." Assistant coach Steve Holland laughed, "When you were in Hamburg last year, you were drawn against your old club AC.

Milan? This kind of drama of kicking the old club is the most eye-catching."

"And it just so happens that our leader happens to be the most eye-catching head coach in world football today..." Another assistant Scaloni also said, "It's a pity, otherwise the topic would be full!"

Pan Yi smiled: "Actually, there's nothing wrong with getting a hamburger. This year, half of the Hamburger team was bought out, and the strength is no longer what it used to be."

This summer, Hamburg was indeed the team with the most "blood loss" in the entire European football.

Among their main lineup, people like Vardy, De Bruyne, Kante, Casemiro, Carvajal, Navas... etc. have all been poached.

Even Calhanoglu, Paulinho, Makoto Hasebe and others who played as rotation substitutes also switched to other teams.

Although Hamburg also added players such as Behrami, Djurou, and Adler in the summer window, the decline in strength is still very obvious.

Their performance in the first round of the Bundesliga just past also proved this.

Hamburg faced newly promoted Cologne away from home and was tied 0:0, showing a certain degree of weakness.

Afterwards, Pan Yi said to everyone in a relaxed tone:

"Actually, my views are still the same as before."

"No matter which team is drawn, we have to be fully prepared to win."

"Last year I led Hamburg and we met Barcelona and Milan in the group stage, so what? We didn't qualify two rounds ahead of schedule."

"Our goal this year is also to win the championship! To create history! So we have to find a way to defeat all teams!"

The coaches were very excited when they heard what Pan Yi said.

Everyone knows Pan Yi's level, and also knows that he won't talk nonsense.

Since Pan Yi said he wants to create history, then he really wants to go for this goal!

So as long as everyone unites closely around the Chelsea coaching staff with Pan Yi as the core, unites as one, and works together, it is possible to realize this great vision!

Isn’t it just for this moment that everyone becomes a professional coach? To lift the most important trophy!

As for Pan Yi, of course he is also looking forward to the start of the Champions League.

After all, although the Premier League is indeed very exciting, it is a long marathon, more of a protracted game, which tests the team's overall combat capability.

But the cup competition is different, especially when it comes to the knockout rounds, every game is really a stab at the edge!

Not to mention the Champions League games, each one is a top player carefully selected from the European continent.

Masters compete with each other and then eliminate these masters, which will make Pan Yi feel very enjoyable!

This feeling is something that the league cannot give.

——

Monaco, Grimaldi Forum.

The annual Champions League group stage draw ceremony and UEFA awards ceremony officially kicked off here.

Before the draw ceremony began, last season's champion, Hamburg captain Westermann, brought the Champions League trophy back to the scene.

Then a short video was played live to commemorate the two football legends Eusebio and Di Stefano who passed away.

Those in charge of the draw ceremony are still UEFA Secretary General Infantino and Competition Director Marchetti, and the guest is German football star Riedel.

The reason why the guest is Liddell is because this season's Champions League final will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany.

The first seeded teams are drawn first.

Bayern Munich enters Group E.

Then the defending champion Hamburg was drawn and entered Group H.

Then Real Madrid and Galacticos enter Group B.

Benfica was drawn into Group C, Arsenal was drawn into Group D, Barcelona was drawn into Group F, and Atletico Madrid was drawn into Group A.

The last one to be drawn was Chelsea, entering Group G.

It's still calm here, after all, it's just putting the first-tier teams into corresponding levels.

But starting from the draw of the second-tier teams, both the representatives of each team at the scene and the officials and coaches watching in front of the TV became a little nervous.

For example, in the office of the director of the Westfalenstadion in Germany, Michael Salk, the director of Borussia Dortmund, is staring at the TV screen with head coach Jurgen Klopp.

"It can be Real Madrid or Barcelona, ​​but it's best not to be..." Klopp gritted his teeth and said, "Chelsea!"

As a second-tier team, Dortmund itself is unlikely to encounter Bayern Munich from the same country.

In the previous two seasons, they did not fall behind when facing Real Madrid, so Klopp is not afraid of the Spanish team.

Of course, if it was Benfica or even Arsenal, Uncle Zha would prefer it.

but……

When he faced Pan Yi's team, he never got any good results!

Last season, two 0:3 scores in the league and cup really gave Klopp a deep sense of powerlessness when facing Pan Yi.

This season, Pan Yi switched to Chelsea, but still showed an unstoppable momentum, winning two 4:0s in the Premier League. It seems that the momentum is no weaker than when he was in Hamburg.

I don’t know why, but Klopp feels in his heart that if he meets Pan Yi again, it will end badly!
To be continued...