host must win

Chapter 247 Champions League knockout opponent

Manchester United arrived in Japan, into the preparations for the Toyota Cup.At this time, David Gill, Manchester United's new club CEO, represented Manchester United at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, at the UEFA Champions League knockout stage draw ceremony.

During the national team match day in September, former Manchester United CEO Peter Kenyon was overwhelmed by a Russian rich man and moved to Chelsea.This also made the relationship between the two clubs deteriorate, and Manchester United fans even regarded Kenyon as a traitor.

After Kenyon jumped ship and left Manchester United, David Gill took over the position of Manchester United CEO.

The draw time was held at 12:12 pm on December [-]th local time in Japan. Manchester United players watched the draw ceremony in the hotel.

As No.1 in the group stage, Manchester United and 7 teams including Lyon, Arsenal, Monaco, Juventus, Real Madrid, Chelsea, and AC Milan all have the advantage of first away and then host in the Champions League round of sixteen that will start at the end of February next year. Schedule advantage.

And the second place in the eight groups was released at the end of the group stage, namely Bayern, Lokomotiv Moscow, Deportivo, Real Sociedad, Stuttgart, Porto, Sparta Prague, and Celta Vigo.

Among them, except that Stuttgart is in the same group as Manchester United in the group stage, and it is impossible to meet Manchester United in the round of [-], the remaining seven teams are potential opponents of Manchester United.

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Manchester United players were all watching the live broadcast of the draw in the conference room, while talking about the upcoming draw.

Obviously, Bayern is the last opponent Manchester United players want to meet. Although they defeated their opponents in the Champions League final four years ago and reached the pinnacle of club history, it has to be said that Bayern is second in all groups , one of the toughest opponents.

In addition, Super Depor, who has performed extremely well in the European arena in recent years, is also an opponent that Manchester United players do not want to meet.

Lokomotiv Moscow is also an opponent that Manchester United players don't like, not because of the strength of the opponent, but because of the weather and the distance.

At the end of February and the beginning of March when the knockout rounds started, the breath of spring could already be seen in Western Europe, but in Moscow, it was still freezing.You know, when Napoleon fell under the weather in Moscow, the Manchester United people were naturally afraid.

Coupled with a journey of more than [-] kilometers, it is a severe test for any team.

As for other opponents, the Manchester United people don't have much preference.As long as you don't meet the above three opponents, it's a good lottery result.

Of course, it would be great if we could meet players like Celta Vigo and Porto.

Well, according to the current odds offered by major European bookmakers, Celta Vigo and Lokomotiv Moscow have the highest odds, followed by Porto. The odds of these three teams are more than 1 to 50. The well-recognized big team in everyone's eyes.

If the Russian team still has the protection of the weather and travels thousands of miles, then Portugal and Spain with good weather are the paradise in everyone's mind.

February and March in Manchester are still a bit cold, but at this time, Vigo, Spain and Porto, Portugal are really full of spring, which is the most suitable season for playing football.

Hearing that his teammates regarded Porto as a big team, Yin Jun was also a little speechless.These guys still don't know that this Portuguese Super League team will be the champion of this season's Champions League in real time and space, right?And Manchester United is the first object of Mourinho's summit in Europe?
Yin Jun doesn't know why everyone is so optimistic. Maybe it was the European Super Cup before the start of the season. The Red Devils won the opponent in Monaco?
………………

Amidst everyone's chatting and laughing, the opponents of the first group of knockout rounds were announced. Manchester United's biggest opponent in the group stage, Stuttgart, was drawn together with the team's Premier League rival, the Blues Chelsea.

This result makes the Manchester United people very happy. Chelsea has drawn such a difficult opponent, which will undoubtedly involve a lot of their energy. This is undoubtedly beneficial to Manchester United's championship in the Premier League.

Then, to make Manchester United even happier, they were drawn with Porto.

Seeing the results of the lottery, several Manchester United players with a more jumpy personality even clapped their hands together: "If you want to draw Porto, you will get it. It's really a dream come true!"
Seeing these somewhat complacent teammates, Yin Jun couldn't help thinking of the Istanbul night in real time and space, those AC Milan players who celebrated with champagne at halftime.

Well, speaking of AC Milan, it seems that in this season's Champions League knockout round, they will set a record, which will also be regarded as a negative teaching material in football in the future, and it is a famous reversal miracle in the history of the Champions League.

The next draw, the Manchester United people watched it with the mentality of watching a drama.

Real Sociedad got the Ligue [-] overlord Lyon, while Bayern got Real Madrid. Manchester United's biggest rival in the Premier League, Arsenal, was also lucky. be good!

Lokomotiv Moscow won the first place in the weakest group in Monaco. This pair can be called a rookie pecking at each other!

Super Deportivo and Juventus have become opponents. This is a strong dialogue second only to Real Madrid and Bayern.

AC Milan was also lucky, drawing the Czech team Sparta Prague.

Seeing the lottery result, Yin Jun secretly sighed: the wheel of history is still rolling forward!

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Not only did most of the Manchester United players think this was a good result, but so did most of the Manchester United management.

Merritt, a senior Manchester United official who followed David Gill to participate in the draw ceremony, also said in an interview with reporters after the draw ceremony: "This is a good draw. Porto performed well in the league. We played there a few years ago. Of course. The European Championships will also be held there next summer, and it’s great to be able to play at the venue where the big games are going to be held. To be honest, we would like to repeat the score seven years ago, it would be wonderful Yes, of course you have to put in a lot of effort to get there.”

1996-1997赛季，曼联和葡超霸主波尔图在欧冠八强中相遇，结果他们在主场4:0痛宰对手，然后又在客场跟对手踢成0:0，从而以4:0的悬殊比分晋级四强。

However, in the semi-finals, Manchester United was defeated by Dortmund, the Champions League champion of the season, with two 1-0 doubles at home and away, and missed the final.

The good memories at the time, coupled with the team's 2-0 defeat in the UEFA Super Cup at the end of August, made Manchester United very optimistic about the result of the draw.

Yin Jun didn't jump out at this time to pour cold water on everyone. Many things, if you don't go through it, you won't know the pain if you don't touch it.

(End of this chapter)