Prominence in Football Community

Chapter 387 The Face of Italian Football

..Landy and majestic

The day after the game, the whole of Italy was discussing the Champions League, and in those discussions, Sampdoria was a name that was repeatedly mentioned by them.

Even those media who were not optimistic about Sampdoria before had to name and praise Sampdoria.

It's not that they changed their gender, but after the Champions League group stage, everyone found out that only Sampdoria saved a little face for Italian football...

In all the group matches that were held at the same time last night, Juventus lost 0:1 to the Turkish team when they only needed to beat Galatasaray in an away game to qualify, and it was finally reflected in the points that Juventus Tus ranked third with six points, and Galatasaray, which won them, ranked second in the group with seven points, surpassing Juventus by one point, and won the right to qualify for the group.

Although Juventus has always had the "tradition" of dominating the country, but in the Champions League, their performance was not satisfactory, but this time they didn't even qualify for the group stage, which is really too bad.

After the game, Juventus was scolded by the media and fans from the management to the coaches to the players.

You must know that this team was originally shouldering the important task of helping the entire Serie A league win some more Champions League points-the Champions League points in a league are directly related to how many Champions League places this league can eventually have. Serie A now only has three Champions League places, one of which is still a qualifying place, and leagues that perform well in the Champions League like the Premier League and La Liga, they have four places to participate. The number of places in Serie A is less than others, because the overall performance of the winning team in the Champions League is sluggish.

Although there is the brilliance of Inter Milan winning the Champions League in 2010, it is only the last afterglow of Serie A. Since the Calciopoli incident, the competitiveness of Serie A in the Champions League has not been as good as it used to be. With the decline of AC Milan and Inter Milan, even the Champions League cannot be played. Basically, there is nothing in Serie A that can compete in the Champions League. team up.

This time Juventus had high hopes, but their performance was so disappointing.

"Gazzetta dello Sport" ridiculed Juventus as "an expert in civil wars, but an outsider in foreign wars", while "Corriere dello Sport" lamented that Juventus, a team that could not even qualify for the group stage in the Champions League, was able to compete so well in Serie A. With a big advantage to win the league championship, I have to say that Serie A is really in decline now...

Another team that was favored before is Naples. To say that this team’s performance in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season is actually very good. In terms of points alone, they have the highest points among the three Serie A teams. The 12 points did not help them break out of the "group of death".

Although they beat Arsenal 2-0 at home in the last round of the group stage,

However, since Dortmund defeated Marseille 2:1 in the away game, with the same points and exactly the same relationship between victory and defeat, Naples ranked third due to the disadvantage of goal difference and missed the knockout round.

They became the eliminated team with the highest points in the history of the Champions League.

Look at Zenit St. Petersburg in Group G. With only one win, with six points, they all got the right to qualify for the group stage, which made Naples vomit blood.

They are the poorest team in the Champions League this season and the most sympathetic. The Italian domestic media didn't criticize them much, they just lamented their bad luck and made the most deadly "group of death" in the history of the Champions League.

You must know that Chelsea, the number one in Group E, has only 12 points. They won the first points in other groups and came to this group, but they couldn't even qualify. It was really dead.

Before the start of the Champions League group stage, Juventus and Naples were originally expected by the Italian media. If anyone can help Italian football regain its dignity in the Champions League, it must be these two teams.

It turned out that it was these two teams that were eliminated after the group stage.

On the contrary, no one paid attention to it before the game. Sampdoria, which was considered to be home after the group stage, stood out and became the only Italian team in the top 16 of the Champions League.

This is really a very ironic thing, which made the people who mocked Sampdoria feel very complicated.

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After all the top 16 teams were released, UEFA then conducted a draw for the quarter-finals.

This is a question of great concern to all.

There are still some rules for the draw in the first round of the knockout round, such as the first team in the group against the second in the group, the teams in the same league avoid, and the teams in the same group avoid.

But for Sampdoria, the second condition can be ignored, because they are the only team in Italy, and there is no need to avoid anyone.

Therefore, they who are second in the group may encounter seven other group firsts besides the first Barcelona in the same group, including Manchester United, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Dortmund, and Atletico Madrid.

Look at the top names in these groups, all of them are well-known giants in European football. No matter who they meet, Sampdoria will be in danger.

Looking at the beginning now, it would be great if Sampdoria could finally get the first place in the group.

But this question is meaningless. At that time, Sampdoria had to do their best to qualify for the group, so what would they use to compete with Barcelona for the first place in the group?

In the end, the results of the draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League came out.

Sampdoria drew Atletico Madrid, the group No. 1 in Group G.

This result is neither good nor bad, at least it is better than meeting teams like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but Atletico Madrid is also very strong.

The team led by Simeone is extremely combative. With five wins and one tie in the group stage, they won the first place in the group with an unbeaten record of 16 points.

In terms of the schedule, it is not good for Sampdoria to host first and then away.

Of course, these are minor details. When the strength of the two teams is close, it is still a bit meaningful to say that the host first and then the away. Now the strength of the two teams is far apart, and there is no basis for discussing such details.

However, after the results of the draw came out, Simeone accepted an interview on behalf of Atletico Madrid, but he seemed very cautious: "No, this is not a good lottery."

His answer was in response to the previous reporter asking him whether it was a good draw to draw Sampdoria.

Then he continued: "I'm afraid the other teams in the same group as Sampdoria were also your idea at the beginning, but everyone knows what the final result is. I don't think Sampdoria is a good team to deal with. , they come from Serie A, they were the third place last season, and they also have a Golden Boot shooter who broke the historical record of Serie A, whoever underestimates such an opponent will be in bad luck...Of course, I am not saying Barcelona, ​​which was tied in an away game, I am not talking about the Celtics and Ajax, don't get me wrong..." Simeone quickly explained when he saw the reporters showing a smile of "I understand".

But his explanation will naturally be ignored.

"In short, we will seriously prepare for these two games. None of the teams that can reach the knockout round is an underdog. To despise the opponent is to insult yourself."

( = )

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