host must win

Chapter 85 Champions League Group Stage Second Stage

After entering mid-November, the first stage of the UEFA Champions League group stage ushered in the final round.Previously, although Manchester United had already qualified two rounds ahead of schedule, they failed to lock in the first place in the group because of their disastrous defeat in Israel in the last round.

In today's Champions League, because of the competition system, the importance of the first place in the group is not as obvious as it was later, but being able to lock in the first place in the group is still good for the team's classification.

Coupled with the loss in the Manchester Derby last weekend, in order to get rid of the impact of this defeat on the team, Ferguson still hopes that Manchester United will win this Champions League game and send many main players to this game. The Neville brothers, who performed poorly in the middle, both sat on the bench, Beckham put on the captain's armband, Yin Jun moved to the center again, and the teenager O'Shea played the right back position he was not familiar with.Leverkusen midfielder Basturk was suspended, and defender Lucio was frozen.

After the opening game, Manchester United was obviously still affected by the defeat of the Manchester Derby, and the team appeared to be in poor condition.

In the 16th minute, Manchester United suffered a blow. Leverkusen midfielder Burdaric broke through the middle and was thrown down by Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo. Ricardo was warned by a yellow card and Leverkusen won a penalty.But the good news is that Leverkusen's Czech midfielder Simak took a penalty kick, but the ball flew away, and Manchester United escaped.

Manchester United finally broke the deadlock at the end of the first half.

In the 42nd minute, Ruud van Nistelrooy controlled Beckham's pass from the edge of the penalty area, and then knocked back to Yin Jun. Yin Jun picked the ball up and volleyed it into the lower left corner at 20 meters.

This is Yin Jun's fourth goal in the Champions League this season, continuing his good performance in the Champions League.

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After the start of the second half, the situation on the court was still under Manchester United's control.

In the 69th minute, Manchester United played smoothly. Scholes missed Yin Jun's pass. Ruud van Nistelrooy shot through the crotch of goalkeeper Bute and went into the net. Yin Jun has 5 assists in the Champions League this season. Four of them benefited Ruud van Nistelrooy.

In the Champions League, Yin Jun and the Dutch striker showed a good tacit understanding. His goal today was an assist from Van Nistelrooy, and now he reciprocates, assisting Van Nistelrooy to score.

In the 77th minute, Beckham was replaced by Solskjaer. He was injured after colliding with his opponent. The team doctor said that he may have suffered a rib injury.

Near the end, Ferdinand limped off with a thigh strain. Manchester United, who had run out of substitutions, fought with ten men in the last 5 minutes to keep the victory.

In the end, Manchester United achieved 5 wins and 1 loss in the six group matches, occupying the first place in the group.It's just that, to win the first place in the group at the cost of the injury of two generals, for Manchester United, I don't know whether it is a good deal or not.

Yin Jun became Manchester United's best performer in the first stage of the group stage. He played 6 times in 5 games, contributed 4 goals and 5 assists, and made 1 penalty. The player who directly made the most goals in the team!

With his outstanding performance in the Champions League, Yin Jun's ranking odds in the 50-man shortlist for the European Ballon d'Or are also rising steadily.

In another game in this group, Maccabi Haifa drew with Olympiacos 3:3 in the away game, scored 7 points in the group stage, and played the UEFA Cup as No.3.

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The first stage of the group stage came to an end, and the results were naturally joyful and sad.

The performance of the four Premier League teams at this stage is still good. Manchester United and Arsenal both advanced to the round of 16 as the first in the group stage. On the last train of the round of 16.Only the Red Army, Liverpool, became frustrated. As a guest in Switzerland, they were tied 3:3 by Basel, and could only move to the UEFA Cup with regret.

Liverpool's game in Basel was very tenacious and soul-stirring.They suffered a nightmare start in the away game, conceding a goal in just 90 seconds of the opening game, and fell behind 0:3 in the half game.In the second half, Liverpool began a desperate counterattack. Murphy, Smicer and Owen scored three goals in a row to rewrite the score to 3:3!

But it's a pity that the pit they dug for themselves in the first half was too deep, and they failed to climb out of the pit in the end.

As far as the first group stage of the UEFA Champions League is concerned, Spain and Italy are undoubtedly the big winners, because all four teams from these two major leagues played in the UEFA Champions League have advanced to the top [-].

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UEFA stipulates that in the second stage of the Champions League, teams in the same group cannot come from the same country, and teams that were previously grouped in the first stage cannot be regrouped.

In addition, the 16 teams will be divided into four grades this time. Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona, ​​and Valencia are the first grade. Three of these teams are from Spain. This also indirectly shows that La Liga is the first league in Europe. ; The second level is AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Arsenal, among which three teams are from Italy, which also shows that Serie A has re-emerged after two seasons of silence; the third level is Roma, Borussia Dortmund , Leverkusen, Deportivo, these teams are the No.2 winners in the group stage; the fourth class is Basel, Newcastle, Lokomotiv Moscow, Ajax, these four teams can say It is the dark horse in the group stage.

According to the group rules, Capello's team cannot be in the same group as Real Madrid, because the two teams are in the same group in the group stage, and Roma cannot be in the same group as AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus. grouped together because they are from the same country.So Rome can only be divided with Arsenal.

The same is true for Arsenal, they cannot be divided with Manchester United from the Premier League.

At the draw ceremony for the second stage of the UEFA Champions League group stage on November 11, Beijing time, Manchester United and Serie A giants Juventus, La Liga's Super Deportivo, and the Swiss giants Basel who eliminated Liverpool were in the same group.

This is not a good sign, and the three opponents are not easy to match.

Not to mention Juventus, as the old woman who dominates Serie A, she is definitely one of the most difficult opponents.

And Deportivo, from La Liga, performed very strongly in the first few years of the century, and earned a great reputation as a "Super Deportivo" in world football. No matter who it is, they don't want to meet such an opponent. .

And the last opponent, Basel from Switzerland, although it seems to be the weakest one in the group, but they can beat Liverpool to advance to the top [-], and their combat effectiveness can also be seen.

But the result is doomed, and Manchester United can only actively prepare for the game.

According to the schedule, the six group matches of the second stage will be held from mid-November to mid-March next year, with a span of four months!
(End of this chapter)