The draw ceremony for the UEFA Champions League group stage was also the award ceremony for last season's UEFA Champions League.
Last season's UEFA Champions League champion was the Premier League powerhouse, Liverpool.
In Istanbul, Liverpool won three goals in a row from a three-goal deficit and finally defeated the Serie A powerhouse, AC Milan, in a penalty shootout. This was the most famous' Miracle of Istanbul 'in football history!
Chelsea's goalkeeper, Marek Čech, was named the best goalkeeper last season.
In addition, Terry was the best defender, Kaka was the best midfielder, the best striker was Ronaldinho, and the most valuable player of the year was Gerrard.
UEFA also announced the best lineup for last season's UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea's captain, Terry, AC Milan's captain, Maldini, Barcelona's captain, Puyol, and AC Milan's Brazilian star player, Cafu, were in the list of defenders for last season's UEFA Champions League best lineup.
In the midfield, AC Milan's Brazilian golden boy, Kaka, Liverpool's captain, Gerrard, Liverpool's Spanish player, Luis Garcia, and Barcelona's Brazilian star player, Ronaldinho, were in the best midfield lineup.
In the front line, Barcelona's Cameroonian star player, Eto 'o, and AC Milan's Ukrainian star player, Shevchenko, were in the best striker lineup.
This was very interesting. In the award ceremony, Ronaldinho won the best striker award, but in UEFA's best lineup, Ronaldinho's position was fixed in the midfield …
Liverpool only had two players, Gerrard and Luis Garcia, in the best eleven lineup for last season. This also showed how crazy Liverpool's performance in the final was. One game determined the world.
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After the award ceremony, it was the draw ceremony.
The teams participating in the draw included 16 teams that directly entered the group stage and 16 teams that passed the qualifiers (including the defending champion, Liverpool). According to UEFA's club points system, Liverpool and the top seven teams were seeded teams, and the other 24 teams were divided into three groups. During the draw, one team from each group was drawn to form a group. There were a total of eight groups, provided that the teams in the same league were not in the same group.
Group A had Bayern Munich, Juventus, Club Brugge, and Rapid Wien. Bayern Munich and Juventus were in the same group last season. At that time, Juventus defeated Bayern Munich 1 – 0 in both home and away games. Group B consisted of Arsenal, Ajax, Sparta Prague and Thun. Group C consisted of Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Werder and Udinese. Barcelona was in the same group as Werder last season. At that time, Barcelona won 2 – 0 at home and drew 1 – 1 with Bremen in the away game. Group D consisted of Manchester United, Villarreal, Lille and Benfica. It was worth noting that last season's La Liga top scorer, Fran, would be facing his former team.
Group E consisted of AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, FC Schalke 04 and Fenerbahçe. Group F consisted of Real Madrid, Lyon, Olympiakos and Rosenberg. Group G consisted of Liverpool, Chelsea, Anderlecht and Sporting de Gijón. Liverpool and Chelsea met in the semifinals of last season's Champions League. At that time, Liverpool won 1 – 0 over both legs. Last season, the two teams had played against each other five times, so they knew each other quite well.
Inter Milan was drawn into Group H. They were drawn into the same group as the Scottish Premier League's powerhouse Rangers, the Portuguese Superliga's powerhouse Porto and the Slovak League's champion Artemidia.
For Inter Milan, this was a good group.
This group did not have the traditional powerhouse teams of the five major leagues.
Whether it was Li Ang or Facchetti, they felt that this was a good draw. They were the strongest in this group. Inter Milan's first place in the group was basically assured.
As for Rangers and FC Porto, they would compete for second place in the group.
As for the Slovak League's champion Artemidia, they were considered a weakling and could not even be considered a spoiler.
When he saw the results of the draw, Inter Milan's chairman, Facchetti, had a relaxed smile on his face.
Li Ang also breathed a sigh of relief. It was good luck that they did not meet a strong team in the group stage and were not drawn into the group of death.
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Compared to Inter Milan, Li Ang's former club, Sporting de Gijón, had bad luck. It could even be said to be very bad.
Sporting de Gijón was drawn into Group G. In the same group were the English Premier League's defending champion, Mourinho's Chelsea, and the UEFA Champions League's defending champion, Liverpool. (Although Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League last season, they did not reach the top four in the English Premier League. Originally, according to the rules, they did not qualify for the UEFA Champions League this season. However, it was really inconceivable that the defending champion could not enter the Champions League. Therefore, the UEFA gave Liverpool a way out and allowed them to participate in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. In the end, Liverpool successfully passed the qualifiers and advanced to the main competition. However, because they did not enter the Champions League through the "regular way," they did not occupy the English Premier League's Champions League spot. Therefore, in the group draw, Liverpool was considered a "wild card" to participate and did not have the principle of avoiding the domestic league. Therefore, the situation of being in the same group as Chelsea in the same league did not violate the rules.
This group also included the Belgian powerhouse Anderlecht.
Sporting de Gijón, who had lost a lot of blood, was drawn into this group. It could be said to be the group of death in the truest sense.
Li Ang caught a glimpse of Sporting de Gijón's boss, Manuel Arango's expression stiffened, while the manager, Antić, smiled bitterly. Obviously, they were aware of the difficulties of this group.
For Li Ang's Inter Milan, the most powerful threat in this group was the Portuguese Super League's powerhouse, FC Porto.
However, although Porto had won the UEFA Champions League under Mourinho's leadership in 2004, after reaching the top of Europe, Porto became a supermarket. They lost many of their star players and their strength was not as strong as before.
Inter Milan and Porto met in last year's UEFA Champions League Round 18 final. At that time, Inter Milan won the home and away games 4-2. Therefore, Porto was a certain threat to Inter Milan. However, as long as Li Ang's team played at their standard, there was nothing to worry about. Of course, he had confidence in himself. However, the media might have a different view on the situation of Inter Milan after the big change.
Rangers might have the strength to stir up the situation, but in Li Ang's view, unless Inter Milan made a mistake, Rangers would not pose any threat to Inter Milan.
As for Artemedia, it was the first time Li Ang had even heard of this team. If he remembered correctly, this should also be the first and last time this team entered the Champions League in these years, because he had never heard of this team after that.
The Slovak League's champion did not pose any threat to his Inter Milan.
Therefore, Li Ang was very satisfied with the result of the draw. This was a good draw!
PS: Third update. Thank you for torturing each other until their hair turns white.
It's 3: 40 in the morning. I'm so tired. I'm hot and tired. I can't use the air conditioner. It'll give me a headache. If I don't, it'll be hot.
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