Smiles appeared on the faces of the people from the other clubs, not only because of the previous war of words between the Arsenal manager, Wenger, and the Inter Milan manager, Li Ang.
It was also because they breathed a sigh of relief.
The eight teams in the top eight were Fenerbahçe, Schalke 04, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Roma, and Inter Milan. Among them, the most eye-catching was Inter Milan. Inter Milan was the European champion in the 20052006 season. The team had been carefully built by Li Ang for three years and was now even stronger. In the Serie A league, the team still maintained a clean slate. They had only lost one game in the whole season so far, and that was in the heavy snow in Moscow. Then when they returned to their home ground, Li Ang's team taught CSKA Moscow a lesson.
It could be said that Inter Milan was the favorite to win the title. No team wanted to meet Inter Milan in advance.
Since Wenger expressed that he was "looking forward" to playing against Inter Milan, then the French professor's dream came true. It was really a "happy ending."
Inter Milan met Arsenal in the quarterfinals.
The results of the other matchups were that Manchester United would meet Roma again, and the two teams also met in the Champions League quarter-finals last season. Barcelona drew the best draw, and their opponent was Schalke 04, which was weaker in the top eight. Chelsea, on the other hand, drew another "soft persimmon" — the Turkish Super League team, Fenerbahçe.
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When the results of the draw for the quarterfinals came out, it immediately became the focus of the major media in Europe.
"Manchester United again!" After the results of the 200708 season UEFA Champions League quarter-finals were announced, the Italian media unanimously used such a headline. Whether it was professional newspapers such as Milan Sport, Corriere dello Sport, or comprehensive newspapers and websites such as La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, or TGCom, they could not think of other words to express their surprise at the results of the draw. This time, the Italian media was unusually in step and issued the same voice.
Of course, most Italian fans (with the exception of those who were against Roma) did not want to see this result. After all, Manchester United was probably the strongest opponent that Roma could meet in the Champions League Top 14 final in all aspects. It must be known that the Roma team had once been massacred by Manchester United with a score of 7 to 1. This could be said to be the most painful defeat for the Italian team in the European competition.
The Roma coach, Luciano Spalletti, expressed his attitude after learning the results of the draw.
Spalletti said, "This will be an extremely difficult match." But Spalletti also stressed that last season's fiasco would give Roma extra motivation to complete their revenge, "Last season's 1-7 loss at Old Trafford is our darkest memory, so we are more eager for revenge now. We are confident. "
However, Spalletti seemed to feel that his words were too full of himself. He then said, "Of all the remaining possible opponents, Manchester United is the strongest."
A reporter immediately asked, "Are you stronger than Inter Milan?"
Spalletti glared at the reporter. He hated this kind of person who exposed his scars.
Roma's sports manager, Praed, hurriedly cheered for the team and said, "Manchester United is strong, but so are we. I saw the Manchester United people sighing when they saw the results. We are stronger than last season and have been able to focus on winning like a big team. We also have the motivation to avenge last season's defeat. I believe that we can reach the end of the Premier League and the Champions League. The results will not be the same as last season. "
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Was Manchester United really sighing? Only they knew, but at least the Red Devils, who had the psychological advantage, would not admit defeat verbally. "This is really incredible. I thought we could draw an English team," Ferguson said. The Manchester United manager, Ferguson, said, "But when you think about the fact that we have to play six games against Roma in a year, it's amazing. This will be a pinnacle battle, but I know Roma very well. What really worries me is the fans. " Ferguson vaguely expressed his unfear of Roma. In contrast, the club secretary, Ramstein, who participated in the draw, was straightforward. "This draw is very good! We have a good history with Roma, so we don't have to be afraid of them at all. "
Ferguson did not forget to add insult to injury and asked about his old rival, Wenger. "It's amazing that Arsenal has met the defending champion and the 2006 champion in a row. But this has given someone what he wanted. "
The English media interpreted Ferguson's words to imply that even if Arsenal lost and was eliminated, they seemed to have found a good excuse: the opponent was too strong!
Ferguson then flatly denied that he was insinuating that Wenger had found a way out in advance and wished Arsenal good luck.
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Barcelona, as the only seed in the top eight of La Liga, drew Bundesliga's only seed, FC Schalke 04. The Spanish media immediately published their own comments after the draw was announced.
Marca believed that Barça was quite lucky to draw Schalke, and the team was in a very favorable situation with a bright prospect of promotion. Compared to Arsenal's early encounter with the 2006 champion, Inter Milan, Manchester United's encounter with Roma, and Chelsea's contest with Fenerbahçe, Barça was undoubtedly much more relaxed. It could be said that from this draw, Schalke was undoubtedly Barça's most ideal and anticipated opponent.
Real Madrid's mouthpiece, AS, was also very optimistic about their arch-rival's promotion. They used the headline "Barça vs Schalke, a weaker opponent" to explain the Camp Nou team's good luck. The newspaper said that Barça avoided the three powerhouses of the Premier League as expected before the game and drew Schalke, who had reached the top eight for the first time. Barcelona would not encounter too much trouble in advancing to the top four. Schalke, who was currently ranked fifth in the Bundesliga, also had little chance of an upset.
Sport daily was very satisfied with the team's good draw and thought it was a lucky gift that the team had received, saying that the team could even consider the semi-final matchup in advance. However, Barça's mouthpiece was also worried. Although Barça's draw against Schalke was very good, they would meet the winner of Arsenal and Inter Milan after promotion. Moreover, Barcelona's draw in the semi-final would be the home team and then the away team, which made the road to Moscow for the Catalonia powerhouses not so smooth.
Catalonia's other newspaper, Mundo Deportivo, was more straightforward. They believed that Barcelona would have no problem advancing to the top four. At the same time, the Catalonia media even cheered for Arsenal. They hoped that Arsenal could eliminate Inter Milan, and then Barcelona could "meet" Arsenal in the semi-final. It would be a wonderful matchup.
Although the Catalonia media refused to admit that this was because of their fear of Li Ang's Inter Milan, it was clear that Barcelona did not want to touch Li Ang's Inter Milan.
*****
After the Champions League quarter-finals draw was announced, the bookmakers immediately made the latest round of adjustments to the odds for the championship. The data changes were, of course, based on factors such as the quality of the draw, the division of the semi-finals, and the order of home and away games. Inter Milan had previously been the favorite to win the title and now continued to lead, followed by Manchester United, followed by Barcelona. Chelsea, who had drawn the good draw, rose to the fourth favorite to win the title.
The results of the quarter-finals draw had just been announced. The media unanimously believed that Barcelona and Chelsea had drawn the best draws because their respective opponents had not had many Champions League matches. However, the bookmakers did not blindly lower the odds for the two teams because of this. Chelsea was indeed slightly favored, but Barcelona's odds for winning the title were raised.
Libo's previous odds for Barça to win the title were 2 to 7, but after the quarter-finals draw, it dropped to 1 to 4. Converted into decimals, the odds rose from 4.50 to 5.00. The reason was that even if Barça advanced to the quarter-finals, it was likely to meet the top favorite, Inter Milan, in the semi-finals. Chelsea's odds for the championship dropped from the original 1 to 5 to 2 to 9. The drop in value was entirely related to the fact that their opponent in the quarter-finals, Fenerbahçe, was too weak.
Despite Arsenal's good performance this season, and the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, said that Arsenal was not afraid of any team and even "looked forward" to meeting the favorite to win the title, Inter Milan, the bookmakers did not have much confidence in Arsenal when they really met Inter Milan. They quickly adjusted Arsenal's odds for the championship. The Arsenal Factory was only ahead of the two "weak teams", FC Schalke 04 and Fenerbahçe. Like FC Roma, the odds for the championship were 1 to 11.
Fenerbahçe's odds rose from 1 to 20 to 1 to 28, and FC Schalke 04's odds for the championship rose from 1 to 25 to 1 to 33.
The team newspaper used photos of the smiles on the faces of the representatives of the major clubs at the scene of the match between Arsenal and Inter Milan at the draw ceremony. It was accompanied by a caption: "Obviously, the other teams were relieved to see that Arsenal had drawn Inter Milan."
Milan Gazzetta dello Sport was even more outspoken and did not forget to dig at Wenger: "No one wants to meet the top favorite to win the title, Inter Milan, except for Wenger."
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