Chapter 168 Champions League Draw

Just one day after Napoli qualified, the Champions League group stage ended, and all sixteen teams advancing to the knockout stage were determined.

According to the principle of the first-place team in each group followed by the second-place team, the two qualifying teams from Group A were Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan. From Group B, it was Lyon and Roma. Group C saw Manchester United and Napoli. Group D consisted of Barcelona and Copenhagen. Group E had Bayern Munich and Ajax. Group F was Chelsea and Marseille. Group G saw Real Madrid and AC Milan advance. Group H consisted of Shakhtar Donetsk and Arsenal.

It's worth mentioning that Real Madrid and AC Milan were in the same group last season as well, with AC Milan finishing first and Real Madrid second. This season, the rankings of the two teams were reversed. From this change, one can see the transformation of these two teams. Mourinho's arrival at Real Madrid has had an immediate impact, and with a resurgent Real Madrid, AC Milan finishing second is not surprising.

Arsenal was quite unlucky, as they were suppressed by Shakhtar Donetsk and only finished second. Losing consecutive away games to Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga was key.

After all sixteen teams were decided, UEFA held the draw for the round of sixteen in Nyon.

Last season's dark horse in the Champions League was Napoli, while this season's dark horse is Tottenham Hotspur. This team, returning to the Champions League after forty-eight years, defeated Inter Milan in the battle for first place in their group. Although they lost 3-4 to Inter Milan away, Bale's hat-trick in the second half nearly forced a draw and brought endless courage and confidence to the team. From that game onwards, people saw the youthful vigor of a young Tottenham and the rapid decline of the treble-winning Inter Milan.

Sure enough, after returning to their home ground, Tottenham defeated Inter Milan 3-1, with Bale once again putting on an outstanding performance. He has become a hot commodity in Europe, with many big clubs linked to him in "rumors."

In this round of sixteen draw, Tottenham was the first group winner to be drawn, and their opponent was AC Milan.

As soon as this result came out, there was laughter in the venue—it seemed that Tottenham Hotspur was going up against both Milan teams this season. Now, after edging out Inter Milan in the group stage to take first place, they were facing another Milan powerhouse, AC Milan, in the round of sixteen.

Napoli was drawn in the second draw. As the second-place team, they will play the first leg at home. And their opponent was... Lyon.

This time, the laughter was louder than before. Many people had not forgotten the intense situation in last season's Champions League group stage when Lyon and Napoli competed for first place and a spot in the knockout stage, especially the final Champions League group stage match, a game full of controversy. Conspiracy theorists firmly believe that the feud between Napoli and UEFA, and Platini's personal grudges, began with that match.

Who says there are no behind-the-scenes manipulations in the Champions League draw?

This was clearly arranged, because Lyon and Napoli have a feud, so there is a gimmick. Because there is a gimmick, there is hype value. With hype value, there is naturally commercial value. Television ratings will rise, and advertisers will be happy. So the meeting of Napoli and Lyon is a matter of course.

But for Mazzarri, this can be considered a good draw, because he knows that Lyon is not Napoli's opponent at all, not last season, and even less so this season. Moreover, having Lyon as Chen Hero's first sacrifice upon his return is perfect, because the opponent is not strong, and Chen Hero can use Lyon to find his form.

Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk were drawn together, which was considered a good draw.

Following that, Arsenal faced Barcelona, which was a true clash of titans. And the direct dialogue between Fabregas and Barcelona was also a bit interesting. But everyone actually didn't have much faith in Arsenal, which was their punishment for their poor performance in the group stage...

Real Madrid was drawn against Ajax. Real Madrid's historic breakthrough into the round of sixteen should also not be a problem. Judging from Real Madrid's performance this season, Ajax will definitely not be able to stop Real Madrid's progress.

Chelsea and Copenhagen were drawn together, also a good draw.

The match between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich was also a clash of titans.

Marseille was drawn against Manchester United.

Every draw is a mix of joy and sorrow, and this time was no different. However, the most attention from reporters was not on powerhouses like Barcelona and Real Madrid, but on... Napoli.

Because Chen Hero was about to be unbanned and return.

Napoli and Lyon were drawn together, and it looked like Chen Hero should be able to make it to the quarterfinals. But four games are not enough for him to become the top scorer, right?

Currently, the top scorer in the Champions League is Inter Milan's Cameroonian striker Eto'o, who has scored seven goals. Following closely behind are Messi and Gomez, who have both scored six goals.

They already have so many goals after finishing the group stage, how can Chen Hero compete with them?

Eto'o's Inter Milan and Gomez's Bayern Munich were drawn together, and it's hard to say if they can go further. But one of these two will definitely be able to enter the quarterfinals, which is four games. In these four games, as the team's top Champions League scorer and attacking core, can't they score two more goals?

Messi's Barcelona faces Arsenal, and the chances of Barcelona advancing are very high. Barcelona may even go further. This season's Barcelona is even stronger than last season, as can be seen from their 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid at home. So Messi can score even more goals, he is simply aiming for the top scorer of this season...

It's not easy for Chen Hero to compete with these people. Even if Napoli can make it to the final in one breath, it's only seven games. Eto'o already has seven goals, and Messi and Gomez have six goals. Even if Chen Hero scores one goal per game, he will only barely catch up with the current Eto'o.

And even if he has seven games to play, don't Messi and the others have seven games too? Including the six group stage games, they may have more than a dozen games to play. Scoring a few goals at random is enough to suppress Chen Hero.

Therefore, everyone thinks that Chen Hero has always been arrogant, but this time he is obviously too arrogant.

Not to mention Eto'o and Gomez, one of these two guys will definitely stay in the round of sixteen. Let's talk about Messi, the world's number one player in football today. Chen Hero is already six games behind Messi. It's like giving Messi six stones in Go.

He Chen Hero is not the world's number one, and his strength is not as good as Chen Hero's. Why should he compete with Messi for the Champions League top scorer when he is six games behind Messi?

Anyway, there are not many people in this world who believe that he Chen Hero can really defend his title as the Champions League top scorer this season.

Messi is the world football player of the year and the European Golden Ball winner last year. What is he Chen Hero?

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So after the draw, Mazzarri, who represented the team to participate in the draw, was surrounded by reporters, and the question about the Champions League Golden Boot competition was thrown out by the reporters.

The coach of Napoli did not directly answer this difficult question: "Messi is very good, but Hero is also good. They are both great. Yes, playing six fewer group stage games is Hero's biggest disadvantage at the moment, but as his coach, I choose to support Hero..."

"Your answer is a bit reluctant, Mr. Mazzarri."

"No, I'm not reluctant. I'm telling the truth, the truth is that Hero is the best center forward I've ever seen, the most outstanding scorer. Messi is of course very good, he has scored more than fifty goals in the past year, but I still have to say that in terms of scoring ability alone, Messi is definitely not Hero's opponent!"

Mazzarri's evaluation of Chen Hero is quite high, but in the eyes of the media reporters, this is just the coach of his own team habitually supporting his own players. Any coach would do this, and it's not surprising at all.

As for words like "in terms of scoring ability alone, Messi is definitely not Hero's opponent," everyone should just treat it as hot air... As of now, throughout 2010, Messi has scored sixty goals, and he still has two La Liga games left this year, and he is fully capable of continuing to refresh this number.

This number is record-breaking, it is historic, because in today's football world, no player has been able to score so many goals in a year.

What about Chen Hero? Twenty-one league goals in the first half of the year, and four Champions League goals. In the second half of the year, he only has league goals, eighteen goals. Since he has not been selected for the Chinese national team, he has no national team goals. So far in 2010, he has scored a total of forty-three goals, which is far behind Messi's sixty goals!

Mazzarri said anything but had to talk about the number of goals. Isn't this slapping himself in the face?

At the moment, no one cares about what Mazzarri said, they continue to ask:

"You have to admit, this is really too difficult..."

"Yes, it's very difficult, even the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life. However, based on my understanding of Hero, he won't do things that are not difficult. He just likes challenges that much."

Mazzarri could see that the reporters did not agree with his words and were unwilling to believe his words, so he was too lazy to talk nonsense with them.

After answering this question, he squeezed out of the crowd and left.

You think I'm just blindly protecting my own, you think I'm talking nonsense when I say that Messi's scoring ability is not as good as Hero's? I'm very happy to prove to you who is right and who is wrong in the Champions League knockout stage.

Chen Hero is definitely more terrifying than you think!

When leaving, the Napoli coach, feeling slighted, clenched his fists.

Then let the whole of Europe tremble under the roar of that giant bear!

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ps, today's three updates are delivered, and there will be three more tomorrow~~~