With Juventus losing to Villarreal and Chelsea's win over Lille, this season's Champions League quarterfinals are all out. There are many giants in the promotion list, such as Chelsea, who defended the title last season and is now under external pressure; the well-deserved hegemon of this competition, Real Madrid, who aims to build a new galaxy battleship; and the melon blue moon that has been looking forward to the championship for many years, but always worse, of course, can not underestimate the 6 champions Bayern Munich and Liverpool. The dark horses also have their own goals, and although the promotion of Benfica and Huang Qian is "unexpected", this is also a proof of their strength. The performances on this stage are all masters, and there is no shortage of surprises in history. The moment of fate is really stressful, see whose good luck will fall tonight?
A review of the road to advancement
The eight qualifying teams come from four leagues, three of which are in the Premier League and three in La Liga, making them the big winners. The Top Three of the Premier League were chelsea and Manchester City, the champions and runners-up of the last Cup, in addition to the 2018/19 champion Liverpool, and the participating teams are definitely top-notch. However, for Premier League fans, this is indeed "commonplace and routine operation", and their performance in the Champions League in recent years has been really good.
The promotion of the three teams in the Premier League is well deserved, and the group stage showed excellent strength, of which Manchester City (4 wins and 2 losses), Liverpool (6 wins) are the first place, chelsea (4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, the last round "played") also has 13 points. In fact, manchester United, who was out, was also the first place in the group to advance, but it was a pity. In the first round of knockout matches, Blue Moon swept Portugal Sports 5-0, without giving opponents any chance; Liverpool won the defending Champions of Serie A, Inter Milan, and successfully advanced; Chelsea and Lille did not have much suspense, successfully breaking through the blockage in two legs 4-1.
La Liga is the Champions League super king Real Madrid, and last season's Europa League champions Villarreal, who qualified with Atletico Madrid led by Simeone. There are no unfamiliar faces, all are "old acquaintances". However, Real Madrid and Atletico were not very comfortable in the group stage, and the Galaxy did not establish the advantage of promotion until the second half, and Atletico were almost squeezed by Milan to qualify for the second place in the group. In the first round of the knockout round, Real Madrid won the peak showdown with Paris, and Benzema's excellent performance ensured that they entered the next round; Atletico finally defeated Cristiano Ronaldo and stepped on the corpse of Manchester United to enter the quarterfinals.
The Bundesliga promotion is naturally the "Southern Star" Bayern Munich. They also won all 6 games in the group stage, scoring 22 goals and conceding only 3 goals. The 7-1 sweep of Salzburg in the first round of the knockout round can be said to be unloving, and they can also devote all their energy to the Champions League competition in the Bundesliga, which is not very stressful. The other qualifying team is Benfica, who scored the winning goal in the second leg and took Ajax to advance to the next round.
The rules for drawing lots are detailed
The next final four draw ceremony will take place in Nyon, Switzerland, at 7pm on Friday (18 March). In terms of draw rules, compared with the previous quarter-final battle, there are many adjustments, and there will no longer be the principle of circumvention with the league, nor the principle of restriction of the same group, which can be described as a "big mess".
However, there will still be a home-and-away distinction in the draw, and it will also determine the "home team" of the cup final and the position of the next semi-final. Therefore, whether it is in the first half or the bottom half will directly determine the fate of the team in this round and the next round. For teams aiming to win the championship, this lottery result can be very important.
It should be noted that in the new season, there will be no home-and-away goals, and if the scores of the two legs are the same, they will directly enter extra time and penalty shootouts until the winner is divided.
Draw Highlight 1: The new plot of the Premier League feud is worth looking forward to
From the champions league final of Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur in the 2018/19 season, to the competition between Chelsea and Manchester City last season, and the repeated collective selection of the Top Eight, the Final Four and the Final in recent years, it can be said that on the Champions League stage, they are definitely an important force that cannot be ignored. In this quarter-final battle, three more giants will be shortlisted. This will inevitably make people look forward to the drama of "brothers love and kill each other", and the dialogue between them is always full of drama and fierce violence.
The first thing "worth looking forward to" is naturally the "Yesterday Once More" of Chelsea vs Manchester City. In the case that the Blues were not optimistic last season, Tuchel took up his post halfway to lead the team to write a miracle, along the way to the final, and met with guardiola Blue Moon, achieving the top version of the "British Civil War". In the finale, Guardiola still "didn't have that life", and after being lightly hit by Havertz, he drank and hated again. Although this is their "best result" in so many years, not winning the trophy means failure. This season has the opportunity to "reunite again", and Guardiola is definitely holding his breath and wanting revenge. After all, the Blues are not in good shape recently, and the external pressure is extremely high.
Secondly, it should be noted that Manchester City's enemies are not only Chelsea, and the feud written with Liverpool in the past five years is enough for media hype. Guardiola and Klopp are two personality managers, and meeting each other is bound to be sparkling and passionate, coupled with their recent data and achievements are very good, it is inevitable that they will not easily give points to opponents. The two teams have dominated the trophy in the Premier League in the past five seasons, and this season's championship competition has also entered the sprint period; if this time can continue the "struggle" on the Champions League track, it is really wonderful. It is difficult to evaluate who is more powerful in Guak, but what is certain is that if the quality of the game is guaranteed, the controversy, the mouth, and the smell of gunpowder will not be absent.
In addition, the landing of Premier League teams is also noteworthy. If the top three can avoid killing each other and the situation is ideal, then this season's final four and even the championship competition are likely to be between them again. If so, the FA should be happy to blossom. I have to marvel that the Premier League operation is really successful, not only is the attraction hot enough, but the external record is also very good. How can such a high-level event not be loved?
Draw Highlight 2: Dialogues between champions
In terms of the number of championships in history, Real Madrid topped the list with an impressive record of 13 trophies, followed by Bayern Munich and Liverpool, which have won six titles. The combined 25 titles of this brother are truly commendable, and they are worthy of being the representatives of the giants. Of course, "Big Brother" AC Milan (7 times to win the championship) unfortunately stopped in the group stage, otherwise there may be a super classic such as the "King's Tea Party" this year.
If there is a draw result between Real Madrid vs Liverpool or Real Madrid vs Bayern, it is too much for fans to look forward to. Last season, Real Madrid eliminated understaffed Liverpool 3-1 in the quarter-finals to advance, leaving the Reds with a disappointing season ending. In the 2017/18 season, the two teams also staged a big showdown, and the Galaxy won Liverpool 3-1 in the final, taking away the championship trophy of that year, and also achieving the great feat of the Champions League. However, there are indeed too many stories and controversies that took place during the game, especially about Salah's fouls. In the 2008/09 and 2014/15 seasons, the two teams also met, which can be regarded as "old enemies".
Real Madrid vs Bayern can be said to be a classic of the dialogue between football giants, and the two teams have also written too many legendary chapters in history, countless stories and too many superstars in 26 encounters. The 2011/12 season in recent years was one of the most iconic, with the first leg not winning until the end of the match, with Bayern's Ribery and Gomez scoring goals to help the team win 2-1, while two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo in the second leg brought the game back to parity. In the penalty shootout, the Real Madrid players collectively missed the target and were defeated by Bayern 3-1. That night, Neuer was the brightest star over the Bernabeu, and Mourinho's kneeling prayers were mixed.
In the 2013/14 season, Guardiola led the team to meet Real Madrid, the media generally believed that Guardiola could laugh to the end, but real Madrid completed the suppression under the leadership of Carlo Ancelotti and Zidane (internship period), the goals of Benzema, Ramos and C Ronaldo made Bayern have no way, and the abused Bayern also had a huge personnel turmoil. In the 2016/17 season, Ronaldo's five goals in two legs completely destroyed Bayern Munich, which was the best appearance of Cristiano Ronaldo and the strongest era of Real Madrid. The following 2017/18 season, Real Madrid also narrowly won the match, eliminating Bayern again 4-3 in the Champions League and reaching the final to take the title.
In addition to the feuds between the teams, the dialogue between Levan and Benzema is also worth looking forward to. These two are the best center forwards in European football in the past decade, and they have maintained great efficiency in the twilight of their careers. It would be fun to meet.
Draw Highlight 3: Is Huang Qian Benfica really a big gift package?
The "weakest" in the quarterfinals are of course the yellow submarine Villarreal, and the Benfica team, which is also widely known as the big gift package team. Compared to drawing Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern, it is indeed much better to draw these two teams, whether it is technical and tactical difficulty or external pressure.
This is the first time Villarreal boss Emery has reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, although he has long been a world-class coach. With a successful europa League, he has played well in the Champions League this season. Lifting the Europa League trophy after winning Manchester United on penalties last season, they have played a good efficiency at the start of this season's Champions League, and followed Manchester United to qualify at the end of the group stage. The knockout round of the second leg of the 3-ball explosion of Juve, which surprised the outside world. "Having long since lost their qualification for the Europa League", will they continue to threaten in the next Champions League matches?
Benfica's promotion was somewhat "lucky", and in the group stage they met a self-defeating Barca, with 1 point to force the opponent to enter the knockout round. The first time they met the hegemonic Real Madrid, it is estimated that the club management was half cold; but who knows soon came out the news of "not counting", and they were lucky to avoid most of the giants and met Ajax. After the home-and-away match, they also advanced to the top with a killer goal in the second leg. If Benfica can continue the "Lady of Luck", it will have to draw Villarreal. The encounter between the two "big gift bags" is indeed very interesting.
Draw Highlight 4: There are still other arrangements in the dark
The Oolong scandal that broke out during the first round of the knockout ceremony brought UEFA to shame and its credit rating was reduced to a minimum. After playing the game, some sharp-eyed friends found that the protagonists of the first few groups of duels in the "wrong draw" (Benfica vs Real Madrid, Villarreal vs Manchester City, Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich, Salzburg Red Bull (should be Chelsea) vs Liverpool) have basically advanced successfully, which is also a bit outrageous?
In addition, the first of the four groups (4 games before the quarter-finals, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern to advance) and the second of the four groups (4 games after the quarter-finals, Huang Qian, Chelsea, Atletico, Benfica) are also promoted in "chronological order", which is indeed "thought-provoking", is this the providence in the dark?
Draw Highlight 5: Madrid Derby, Simeone's Fate?
Last season, Simeone led the team to win la Liga when they were not optimistic, but on the Champions League track, they still played unsatisfactory. At the beginning of this season, there were rumors of "contradictions" between the coach and the team, and to this day he is still controversial. Fortunately, in the first leg of the knockout round, they finally defeated manchester United led by their old enemy C Ronaldo, which was considered to be "revenge". But this next round of draws, and Real Madrid "waiting", if you really arrange the Madrid derby, I don't know what the two sides will think?
Simeone certainly doesn't want to recall that scene in 2014. At the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, they completed the suppression of the opponent in the past 92 minutes; what they did not expect was that Ramos's rush to the top of the 92 minutes and 48 seconds made the Sheets Legion lose their previous achievements; the subsequent wild conceding of 3 goals was also helpless. 2016 was another final encounter, the location was changed to San Siro, but unfortunately the result remained unchanged, this time they were even more sorry, losing to Real Madrid in the penalty shootout, watching the opponent raise the trophy again.
epilogue
Although the entire draw ceremony lasted only an hour, this was the decisive moment of the fate of the teams in the season, and it was also a booster for the change of the entire football landscape. So important, how can it not attract attention? This season's Champions League has come to the quarter-finals, at this critical juncture, who can get the favor of the goddess of luck and settle down to the right place; who can get the ideal signing and then move forward? Stay tuned! At seven o'clock tonight, the curtain is about to open!
(Li Qian)
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