Chapter 148 Champions League Draw

Mazzarri once again made extensive rotations for the league match against Bari on the weekend. Chen Hero, Arshavin, Cassano, and others did not appear in the starting lineup. Some didn't even travel with the team to the away game.

However, Napoli's substitutes still performed tenaciously. The substitute players were highly motivated and scored three goals away from home. Unfortunately, Bari, with their home advantage, also scored three goals. So the match ended in a 3-3 draw.

Chen Hero only got a chance to play in the last ten minutes. The time left for him was too short, and he didn't score.

Napoli's media and fans didn't take the team's another winless game to heart. What they were most concerned about now was what kind of draw Napoli would get in the Champions League knockout stage.

After a successful group stage, Napoli's fans had high hopes for the team's performance in the Champions League.

Having finally secured first place in the group, they should get a good draw and go further in the Champions League knockout stage, right?

With a draw in hand, Napoli returned to their home ground. They didn't even bother to feel regretful about the draw because the Champions League draw was already here.

Mazzarri didn't even return to Naples with the team. Instead, he went directly from Bari to Nyon, Switzerland, where UEFA headquarters is located.

Accompanying him was Napoli's general manager, Bigon.

Those who didn't go to the scene could follow the draw ceremony through television broadcasts.

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Chen Hero also sat in front of the television, but not at his home. He was invited by the Naples Provincial Television Station to watch the draw ceremony in the studio. This was a special program organized by the Naples Provincial Television Station, where they chatted with Napoli's players while watching the live broadcast.

The person hosting this special program was no longer the original host, Antonella Canali. She had resigned and moved to Milan's TV Channel 4, which was much more promising than the Naples Provincial Television Station.

The beauty who partnered with the original male host was replaced by a young and beautiful woman. It was believed that it wouldn't be long before the locals of Naples would call this newcomer the "Sexy Goddess of Naples." The title was always the same, but the person could be changed at will. Men were forgetful creatures, especially after having a new love.

When the young newcomer saw Chen Hero and his teammates Cassano, Hamsik, and captain Paolo Cannavaro walking into the studio, her eyes clearly lit up. Chen Hero could even see her wink at him.

Cassano nudged Chen Hero's arm: "Hero, hehe."

Obviously, he had seen it too.

Chen Hero glanced at him: "If you're interested, I can help you get in touch, Antonio."

Cassano quickly shook his head, looking like a gentleman, and whispered: "I have Carolina!"

Chen Hero rolled his eyes and ignored this unreliable friend.

He smiled slightly at the newcomer who winked at him. This was just out of politeness, but he didn't expect the other party to think that Chen Hero was also interested in her. As a result, she kept flirting with Chen Hero during the subsequent live broadcast of the program.

Unfortunately, after that, Chen Hero no longer paid attention to her winks...

Before the official start of the draw ceremony, the male hosts interviewed the Napoli players who participated in the program one by one, just like a normal talk show.

Of course, the topics were more timely, revolving around recent events. For example, Chen Hero won the European Golden Boy Award, and the results of the draw.

The host also did a small interaction, asking the four players to write down the opponent they most hoped to meet and the opponent they least hoped to meet in the round of 16.

Everyone's answers were different, but in general, the weaker the opponent they hoped to meet, the better, and the opponents they least hoped to meet were all strong teams. This was easy to understand. Only by meeting weak teams could they have more opportunities to go further in the Champions League knockout stage.

Chen Hero was an exception. He wrote "Anyone."

"Is there a team called 'Anyone'?" The newcomer female host interjected, thinking she was smiling charmingly, saying something deliberately silly and cute that had no real humor. However, the male audience in front of the TV just ate it up...

The male host had to cooperate by laughing a few times to show that the sentence was really funny.

Chen Hero didn't laugh, but replied: "Of course not. I think it's the same no matter who we meet. If we meet Olympiacos, we have to win. If we meet Real Madrid, we also have to win..."

Cassano waved his hand and interjected: "I don't want to meet Real Madrid..."

Real Madrid was the strongest team among the second-place finishers in the group stage. Because they were defeated by AC Milan twice, both at home and away, their final group ranking was lower than AC Milan's, making them the second-place finisher in the group.

Currently, the eight second-place teams in the group were Bordeaux, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Porto, Lyon, Inter Milan, Stuttgart, and Olympiacos. The strongest of these second-place teams was probably Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan.

According to the principle that teams from the same league cannot meet in the round of 16, Napoli would definitely not be drawn with Inter Milan, so only Manchester United and Real Madrid could be drawn.

Manchester United seemed to still be finding their feet after losing Cristiano Ronaldo, and their form was fluctuating, which was the main reason why they only finished second in the group. CSKA Moscow, on the other hand, became the first in that group, which surprised many experts.

This season, Real Madrid had two superstars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, as well as a strong player like Benzema. Their attacking firepower in the frontcourt was very strong, which made many people daunted.

Meeting Real Madrid in the round of 16 was definitely the last thing all the group winners wanted to happen.

The male host also said with a smile: "The probability of meeting Real Madrid is too low. I don't think it's possible."

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Mazzarri sat at the draw site, surrounded by the managers and coaches of the teams that had entered the knockout stages of the Champions League and Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup).

He was a little nervous.

According to the draw procedure, eight blue balls representing the eight second-place teams were placed in the draw pool. The first team drawn would be the home team for the first leg of the knockout stage, meaning they would play at home first. The computer program would list all the group winners that could play against that team according to the draw rules, represented by white balls, and placed in another draw pool. According to the draw rules, teams belonging to the same national association would not be drawn together, teams in the same group in the group stage would not be drawn together, group winners would not be drawn together, and group runners-up would not be drawn together. In this way, the teams that could be selected were very limited.

The guest would draw a team from it as the away team for the first leg and play against the first runner-up drawn.

Then the above process would be repeated to draw the remaining six pairs of opponents until there was only one group winner left, which would not need to be drawn and would be directly assigned to the last waiting group runner-up.

Taking Napoli as an example, after excluding according to the Champions League draw rules, the opponents they might encounter were only Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Porto, Stuttgart, and Olympiacos.

It seemed that the computer program was operating, and the guest randomly touched a small ball in the draw pool and opened it to see which team it was, so there was no possibility of cheating.

But for the rule makers and the organizer, UEFA, it was too easy to arrange some matches. This point has been verified many times in previous Champions League draws. For commercial interests and the gimmick of television broadcasting, UEFA can operate in the dark, arranging many strong dialogues in the first round, which can heat up the attention of the Champions League and allow those commercial sponsorship partners to get more advertising benefits. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Before the draw ceremony, some media had already revealed some match information, such as Manchester United would encounter AC Milan, and Chelsea was likely to play against Inter Milan. Because these two games were too gimmicky, AC Milan's Beckham came from Manchester United and had a deep affection for Manchester United. This time, he returned to Old Trafford on behalf of AC Milan. What a memorable game this was.

On the other side, Inter Milan's coach Mourinho would also return to Stamford Bridge, where he was still deeply loved. It was also worth hyping up and was very interesting.

Moreover, "Premier League vs. Serie A" was also a Champions League show that Platini had been promoting since he took office. Since he defeated Johansson in 2007 to be elected as the new UEFA president, the collision between Premier League teams and Serie A teams in the Champions League knockout stage has become more and more frequent, even to the point of "aesthetic fatigue."

Mazzarri felt that Napoli was not a strong team. If they played against other strong teams, there would be no hype value or gimmick. Therefore, it was unlikely that they would encounter a strong team in the first round. Maybe it would be a mid-range or even a low-end team. In this way, Napoli could go further and perform better, reaching the quarterfinals... This would be considered an overfulfillment of the task. If they were lucky enough to encounter a weak opponent in the quarterfinals, they could even enter the semi-finals.

After entering the semi-finals, Mazzarri did not expect to encounter any weak teams. There were no weak teams that could reach the semi-finals. But being able to reach the semi-finals was simply a miracle, and he would not consider more.

The first runner-up drawn was Stuttgart. Their game was the first round of 16, and their opponent was...

"Barcelona." The lottery guest held the note and read the name expressionlessly.

The camera quickly gave close-up shots of the representatives of the two teams.

Barcelona coach Guardiola had a smile on his face and was very satisfied with this draw. Stuttgart was definitely not a strong team, and Barcelona would have no problem playing against them. Barcelona's sports director, Begiristain, was nonchalant and relaxed.

The Stuttgart club representative had a wry smile on his face and kept shaking his head, feeling helpless about drawing Barcelona in the first round. Stuttgart only secured their qualification in the last round of the group stage, and their strength was not strong.

The other representatives of the second-place teams obviously breathed a sigh of relief—Barcelona was drawn out at the beginning, which showed what? It showed that they would not have to worry about encountering Barcelona after that.

The biggest thunder was stepped on by Stuttgart.

The TV broadcast also clearly understood the thoughts of those club representatives, so they gave close-up shots one by one, telling the world their relaxed expressions.

This side showed Barcelona's current status in Europe—in full swing, no one wanted to face them head-on.

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"Stuttgart is really unlucky, ha!" Cassano couldn't help laughing after seeing the wry smile on the face of the Stuttgart representative. There was a hint of schadenfreude.

Like him, many Napoli fans were also gloating. Now they were increasingly convinced that it was right to desperately grab a group first place at the beginning, otherwise others might be laughing at them now.

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Teams were drawn out one by one, and Chen Hero and the others just casually made some comments about the teams that were drawn, such as "Bayern Munich is really lucky, they actually drew Olympiacos!" "It's really AC Milan and Manchester United..."

When Lyon was drawn together with CSKA Moscow, the four people were stunned.

Among the eight teams in the first group, the weakest in strength was recognized as CSKA Moscow. They also relied on their home advantage and only scored one point more than Manchester United to get the first place in the group. It can be said that the luck of this first group was very large.

Lyon and CSKA Moscow were drawn together, and it must be said that Lyon had a good draw.

Sure enough, Lyon coach Puel's face lit up. He had been worried before, fearing that he would draw strong teams such as Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Arsenal. He didn't expect that in the end it would be CSKA Moscow, which was really beyond his expectations!

Mazzarri was also stunned when he saw this result.

He didn't expect that Lyon would be drawn to the weakest group first... He frowned and glanced at the podium. Platini's face was expressionless and he looked very serious.

For some reason, Mazzarri's heart suddenly began to beat wildly...

He had a bad feeling.

※※※

Cassano whistled: "This draw result..." He shrugged, meaning everyone understood.

This draw result was really intriguing.

But they didn't have much time to discuss this draw result, because the draw for the next game had already begun.

The second group Real Madrid was drawn in the fifth game before. The fourth game that was just drawn was Lyon and CSKA Moscow.

Who will Real Madrid's opponent be?

According to the rules, there are only three teams that can possibly meet Real Madrid—Chelsea, Napoli, and Arsenal. The probability of one in three...

Mazzarri watched the lottery guest put his hand into the lottery pool, and he couldn't help but clench his hand, as if he had drawn the ball of fate.

The lottery guest groped in the lottery pool for a while, and finally grabbed one of the white balls and took it out.

Who would be the poor worm to play against Real Madrid, who owns Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul, Casillas, and Benzema?

The guest unscrewed the small ball, took out the note, and then unfolded it to show the camera lens, while reciting the name on it.

"Naples."

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ps, the first update is here!

Speaking of which, I don’t know if there will be double monthly tickets at the end of this month? It seems that I haven’t heard of it so far?

Anyway, the editor didn’t tell me...

But I still want to ask everyone for tickets!

Because it’s the end of the month, everyone sees if there is any food left in their hands?

Three consecutive days of outbreaks, dear!

Aren’t you embarrassed to do something?