I build a giant in the Premier League

Chapter 288: Three consecutive wins! Group of death! Chelsea is trapped! Remember, you are Harry Kane [Subscribe]

Bayswater Chinese beat Manchester City 3-1 away!

After the game at the Etihad Stadium, it immediately caused heated discussions among fans all over the world.

If Guardiola's 2-0 victory in the Community Shield a week ago was considered a step ahead, then in the real Premier League arena, Yang Cheng's team proved their strength with a 3-1 victory.

After the game, public opinion was biased towards the Chinese in Bayswater.

Looking at the entire game, the two teams had a ball possession rate of 57 to 43, with Bayswater Chinese trailing by about 14 percentage points.

But in terms of the number of shots in the game, the Chinese from Bayswater created 21 shots, while Manchester City only had 13.

Sky Sports mentioned in its post-match summary that the Chinese at Bayswater did a very good job in restricting Manchester City's passing and controlling style of play.

Some even believe that "looking at the current European football scene, no one else can limit Guardiola's passing and control system like Yang Cheng, including Mourinho."

Yang Cheng's restriction is not just as simple as defense. Instead, he can stick to his own style of play while restricting his opponent, and can fight against his opponent head-on.

Even has an advantage in offensive data.

But Sky Sports also believes that regardless of the score and result, this game actually fully exposed the problems of both teams.

Bayswater Chinese only scored 21 goals despite having 3 shots.

Especially as a center forward, Giroud only scored one goal and wasted so many chances, which was really wrong.

"If Giroud can have Lewandowski's scoring efficiency, Manchester City may be beaten by a big score!"

"The French center forward wasted at least three great chances!"

This is just as all the professionals predicted before the game. The biggest challenge for the Chinese in Bayswater now is who will take the lead in offense after Lewandowski's transfer?
Yang Cheng has high hopes for Gareth Bale.

The team's tactical adjustments will take some time. Gareth Bale has performed well, but is he ready to take the lead?

Sky Sports also believes that judging from the course of the game, the performance of the Bayswater Chinese was indeed good.

Although Giroud missed a lot of opportunities, overall the performance of the trident was remarkable.

After all, it is the first round of the league, and it is a strong dialogue from the beginning.

This is indeed a big test.

"After the first round of the league, the schedule of the Chinese in Bayswater is also very tight."

"Due to the European Super Cup, the third round of the league was moved forward to the middle of the week between the first and second rounds."

"In the next two rounds of the league, Bayswater Chinese will play at home against West Ham United and Fulham, neither of which are very strong. This will be the biggest test for Yang Cheng's team's offensive firepower."

Sky Sports believes that from the perspective of a strong dialogue, defeating Manchester City 3-1 is indeed quite good.

But the test for the Chinese in Bayswater has just begun.

The key is how to maintain stable goals throughout the long season.

Because last season, although Gareth Bale scored 31 goals, most of the goals were hat tricks and doubles.

On the contrary, Lewandowski can basically provide the team with stable goal expectations.

Sky Sports also gave a good evaluation of Guardiola and Manchester City's first round of the league.

Messi's performance has improved significantly compared to the Community Shield a week ago.

Whether it was the breakthrough that created a penalty or the subsequent dribbling, people saw Messi's style in the La Liga arena, but he still needs to further adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League.

"The defensive intensity of the Premier League, with more physical confrontations, will undoubtedly bring greater challenges to Messi."

"But both Guardiola and Messi are fully prepared."

……

All 10 games of the first round of the league have been played, and the overall data has declined compared with last season.

For example, the number of goals has dropped from 28 last season to 25 this season.

This also indirectly proves one thing.

The competition in the Premier League is obviously more intense now.

But there is a good phenomenon. The total attendance for the first round of 10 games has increased from 34.5 last season to 37 this season. This is a very gratifying change.

The Times also particularly emphasized that in the first round of the league last season, Bayswater Chinese played at home.

In that game, 9 fans flocked to Prudential Arena.

But this season Bayswater Chinese are playing away, and the Etihad Stadium is full, but there are only 4 people.

This is because the current Etihad Stadium has not yet been expanded like Yang Cheng’s previous life.

Under such circumstances, the average attendance for 10 games can still reach 3.7, which is enough to prove that the Premier League’s appeal to fans is rapidly increasing.

From the statistics, all 10 games were basically full.

The reason why the current attendance cannot be increased is the capacity of the stadium.

For example, Arsenal drew 1-1 with Aston Villa at home in this round, which was considered a small upset.

The home stadium was packed with 6 people.

Manchester United beat Swansea 4-1 away. The Liberty Stadium was full, but there were only more than 2 people.

Chelsea beat Hull City 2-0 at home, with Stamford Bridge only having a full slate of 4 people.

Liverpool also beat Stoke City 1-0 at home thanks to Sturridge's goal, and Anfield was full of 4 people.

In Yang Cheng's previous life, Anfield's capacity reached more than 6 people after expansion.

But now, the Saudi consortium obviously does not intend to expand Anfield, but wants to build a new stadium.

By the way, although the London Olympics has been over for a year, West Ham United has not yet moved into the London Stadium, but continues to use Upson Park Stadium, so the capacity is only 3 people.

It can be said that from the first round of the new season, it can be clearly seen that the Premier League football market is becoming more and more hot.

The capacity of the stadium has become the biggest obstacle to further development of the Premier League football market.

Whether it is Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane, Liverpool's Anfield, etc., they have all restricted the match-day income of each club.

Especially when seeing that Bayswater Chinese and Arsenal’s match day revenue almost doubled after moving into their new stadiums, all the teams were very jealous.

Chelsea has proposed many times to rebuild a new stadium on the original site, but it has never been approved.

As the London City Government, we certainly support the reconstruction of Chelsea.

However, the area around Stamford Bridge is all residential, and also where veterans and military widows live, which involves a very sensitive issue of land acquisition.

Chelsea is not stuck at Stamford Bridge.

In the past few years, the Blues have considered building a new stadium in another location many times.

For example, Barresey Power Station on the south bank of the Thames.

But the land was eventually bought by a Malaysian consortium, which planned to use it to build residential areas, office buildings and shopping malls.

Not to mention anything else, Chelsea simply cannot afford it just based on the land price.

According to the city government's plan, there is also a piece of land near Earl's Palace north of Stamford Bridge, which has also been rumored to be linked to Chelsea.

But the land is irregular and there is a subway line passing through it.

This subway line is not underground, but runs directly on the ground.

There is a subway parking lot on the north side of the land, so it is basically unrealistic to build a new stadium here.

Unless the surrounding residential areas are relocated.

Doesn’t this bring us back to the problem Stamford Bridge is facing now?
The most recent hot topic is White City, located in the northwest corner of Hyde Park and west of Notting Hill.

It is also a plot of land planned by the city government. It is located to the north of the famous Westfield Shopping Center in London. It has convenient transportation and many subway stations, and is comparable to the location of the Prudential Arena.

But the biggest problem is that the land price is extremely expensive. Opposite is the BBC TV station’s headquarters, and to the south is the Westfield shopping center, the busiest shopping center in London’s West End.

You can imagine how high the land price is?

You can’t even accept the land price of the Baresi Power Plant, and you still expect to buy White City?

After going around in circles, Chelsea was very depressed to find that they were trapped at Stamford Bridge.

Unless they move out of the core urban area, it will be difficult for them to have a chance to rebuild.

But once they moved out, let alone choosing a new site to build, even just renting Wembley Stadium would cause strong dissatisfaction among Chelsea fans, and they would have no choice at all.

Major British media have reported many times that Abramovich deeply regrets not having made up his mind to buy the land in Bayswater from the Chinese.

"Over the years, the Russians have been angry at Pini Zahavi and have become increasingly alienated from the Israelis, and a very important reason for this is that they had the opportunity to buy the Prudential Stadium for £1000 million."

"But it was Pini Zahavi's stupidity, in order to save £500 million, that caused Chelsea to miss out on the most dreamy stadium in the world."

"Now, looking back, if I had spent an extra £10 million to buy this piece of land 500 years ago, it would only be a building in one corner, with a year's rent."

Whenever the media starts hyping up Chelsea's stadium problems, they often praise Yang Cheng.

Because in 2003, it was this rich second-generation, who was only 23 years old at the time, who took over the team, and against all odds, he repeatedly rejected Chelsea's acquisition, thus retaining the current Prudential Stadium.

Today, this stadium has become the cornerstone of the Bayswater Chinese giants!
On the other hand, after Chelsea missed a great opportunity, it will probably be difficult for them to rebuild a new stadium again!

Under such circumstances, there have been many calls for Chelsea to simply move out of the city of London and build another stadium in the suburbs.

But once we do this, even if we appease the team's fans and move to the suburbs, will Chelsea still be the Chelsea it is today?
As time goes by, especially when Premier League teams are increasingly limited by stadium capacity, the role of the Bayswater Chinese Stadium will become increasingly important.

Yang Cheng's status in the club became higher and higher.

It's not just because of his leadership achievements, but also because of his courage and foresight back then.

Although, this team and the land of this stadium were all bought by my father Yang Jianguo.

But Yang Cheng has already surpassed everyone and become the person who has the final say in the club!

……

On the evening of April 8th, Prudential Arena, London.

In the 3th round of the Premier League, Bayswater Chinese played against Fulham at home.

Due to the European Super Cup, the third round of the Premier League match between Bayswater Chinese and Chelsea was moved forward to Wednesday night of this week.

Yang Cheng also made appropriate rotations in the team's lineup, and the result was a 0-0 draw in the first half.

This also made the Bayswater Chinese players all look frustrated when they returned to the locker room.

Throughout the first half, they had the upper hand but couldn't score.

They had an overwhelming advantage, but failed to seize the opportunity at the last moment.

When the players entered the locker room, they all hung their heads, worried in their hearts whether they would be reprimanded by the head coach.

Especially when they faced Yang Cheng in the locker room, a hint of panic flashed across their faces.

But the next moment, Yang Cheng's words gave them a shot of reassurance.

"We played very well in the first half, I am very satisfied!"

In the locker room, all 11 starting players suddenly raised their heads and looked at the head coach in disbelief.

Very satisfied?
The score is 0 to 0?
“Although we failed to score against Fulham, we performed very well in the process.”

When Yang Cheng said this, he gave the players thumbs up with both hands and laughed.

“It was really great, keep it up in the second half!”

Everyone realized at this moment that the head coach was not joking.

But seriously.

However, after praising the players and seeing that they all looked relieved, Yang Cheng stopped short and changed the subject.

"But we still exposed a lot of problems, which led to us not being able to score."

Everyone nodded.

"Harry."

Yang Cheng pointed at Harry Kane.

He started this game.

"Both Amorebieta and Aaron Hughes are very experienced central defenders with strong physical abilities."

Although Amorebieta was born in the Basque region of Spain in 85, he played for Athletic Bilbao since he was a child and established himself very early, but he chose to play for the Venezuelan national team in 2011.

Like many players of the Basque Lions, his defensive characteristics are relatively aggressive, which also makes him controversial.

Not to mention Northern Ireland centre-back Aaron Hughes.

He came from Newcastle's youth training and later played for Aston Villa for a long time. He is a typical British defender.

Although Harry Kane is in good physical condition, he is only 20 years old after all, and it is not yet time for him to play directly.

Therefore, in terms of physical confrontation, Harry Kane is at a disadvantage.

But as a center, he was too obsessed with suppressing his opponent.

This resulted in the entire attack of the Chinese in Bayswater being very awkward.

On the contrary, Fulham's defense was well organized.

"Remember what I told you before the game? Your task is not to suppress the opponent's defense, but to drive our entire frontcourt offense through your running, your possession of the ball and your passing."

"If you are trapped, then our offense will also be trapped. This is the reason why we couldn't score in the first half!"

When everyone heard this, they immediately turned to look at Harry Kane.

Even Harry Kane himself showed an incredible look.

As early as before the game, and even during the summer training camp, Yang Cheng had repeatedly said that he wanted to give Harry Kane more responsibilities.

Ask him to take more responsibility.

But it is obvious that there is some deviation in Harry Kane's understanding of his role.

Everyone else was surprised by Yang Cheng's statement on the spot.

This almost represents the importance of Yang Cheng's tactical positioning of Harry Kane!
The core of the frontcourt attack!
"Remember, you are not Dzeko, not Lewandowski, not Giroud, you are Harry Kane!"

After Yang Cheng encouraged Harry Kane vigorously, he turned to look at the other players.

Yang Cheng is very satisfied with other players, including Pogba, Hazard, Sterling and others.

Judging from this game, Fulham is far inferior to Bayswater Chinese.

It's another home game, and there's the European Super Cup this weekend and next week.

That's why Yang Cheng boldly carried out the rotation.

Even the 0-0 score in the first half could not shake Yang Cheng's confidence.

"In the second half, we continued to play like this, and the key point was our center forward."

"Harry, as long as you run and become active, our entire offense will be activated, understand?"

Harry Kane nodded heavily in agreement.

He felt the unconditional trust from the head coach!
……

The second half started with an attack by Fulham.

After Martin Jol's team kept the goal intact in the first half, they started to play more aggressively in the second half, and even wanted to sneak attack away from home to try to score a goal.

But just 4 minutes into the game, Harry Kane suddenly retreated, stopped the ball with his back, turned around and sent a straight pass between Fulham right-back Zverotic and Aaron Hughes.

Hazard cut diagonally into the middle, stopped the ball right between two defenders, and suddenly stopped himself.

The Belgian's sudden stop caused Fulham's defense to stop as well.

But at this moment, Hazard suddenly started and made a cross pass.

Sterling came out from the side, received the ball and ran to the right side of the penalty spot to get a one-on-one chance. He calmly shot the ball and broke through Fulham's goal.

1 is better than 0!

“Goal!!!”

“The Chinese from Bayswater finally scored a goal!”

"In the 49th minute of the second half, Bayswater Chinese player Sterling took the lead in breaking Fulham's goal!"

“It was really a very beautiful offensive combination.”

"Harry Kane dropped back, pulled out the centre-back and then made a through ball."

"Hazard assisted Sterling to score!"

After conceding the first goal, Martin Jol quickly made the first substitution.

Swedish winger and former Liverpool player Alexander Kacaniklic replaced Costa Rican winger Bryan Ruiz.

Brian Ruiz has excellent ball-handling ability and wing impact, but he plays too independently.

Both players are left-footed but play on the right side.

But just when Fulham made substitutions, the Chinese from Bayswater launched another attack.

Previously it was Harry Kane who planned it, but this time the England center forward directly made a wonderful pass.

Aaron Ramsey came from behind, received a cross from Harry Kane, dribbled into the penalty area, and shot into the goal.

2 is better than 0!

After two goals, Bayswater Chinese's offense was completely activated.

Just three minutes later, Pogba made a run from behind, stopped the ball in the penalty area and shot, but his shot was blocked by Amorebieta.

The French midfielder reacted quickly, turned in time, used his physical advantage to control the ball, and knocked it back to the outside of the arc.

Matic quickly came back and shot directly, a wonderful long shot that once again penetrated Fulham's goal.

3 is better than 0!

In just three minutes, the Chinese players from Bayswater scored two goals.

And in the 67th minute, Pogba made another run from behind, received a wonderful pass from Hazard, dribbled past center back Aaron Hughes in the penalty area, and shot the ball into Fulham's goal.

4 is better than 0!

7 goals scored in 3 minutes!

The Chinese in Bayswater launched a vigorous offensive!

In the 74th minute, Pogba received the ball on the left side of the penalty area and made a horizontal pass.

Harry Kane stopped the ball with the outside of his left foot in the arc area, dribbled past the opponent's central defender, and then shot with his left foot.

The football went straight into the lower right corner of Fulham's goal.

5 is better than 0!

The Chinese in Bayswater are unstoppable.

And in the 84th minute, it was Harry Kane who retreated and passed the ball, and he and Aaron Ramsey completed a wonderful reverse run.

At the front of the penalty area, Harry Kane passed the ball with his heel, and Aaron Ramsey broke into the penalty area and shot.

6 is better than 0!

The Welsh midfielder scored twice!

This score remained unchanged until the end of the game.

Bayswater Chinese relied on Harry Kane's two assists and one goal, and took advantage of the unstoppable momentum in the second half to beat Fulham 6-0 at home!
At the post-match press conference, Yang Cheng spoke highly of the young players of Bayswater Chinese.

In addition to Harry Kane, Paul Pogba and Aaron Ramsey, who scored twice, were all praised by Yang Cheng. Yang Cheng believes that this group of young players showed extraordinary strength in this game.

"In the first half, we were contained by our opponents."

“But in the second half, especially when the opponent’s physical strength began to have problems, our players got the opportunity to perform and they seized it!”

Harry Kane, one of the best players in this game, revealed this in an interview with the British media after the game.

“The coach’s speech at halftime motivated us!”

"His tactical adjustments were very targeted, allowing us to find the rhythm of scoring goals and winning in no time!"

Paul Pogba also believes that Yang Cheng's midfield adjustments are the key to the team's victory.

Aaron Ramsey, who was named the best player of the game, said after the game, "The second half showed our true strength!"

At Stamford Bridge, Mourinho's team defeated Aston Villa 2-1 thanks to an own goal from the opponent and a goal from Ivanovic.

……

Perhaps stimulated by the outstanding performance of the young players in the team in the midweek game, in the second round of the Premier League at the weekend, Bayswater Chinese played against West Ham United at home, and the team was aggressive from the start.

In this game, Yang Cheng once again played in the starting lineup.

Right from the start, the team had an overwhelming advantage.

But West Ham United defended vigorously.

Old rival Allardyce made a tough statement before the game that he would defeat Bayswater Chinese away from home.

The Hammers even fielded a three-defensive-midfielder formation in this game.

How badly is West Ham United under pressure?
It wasn't until the 40th minute that Downing made his team's first shot.

Before that, for more than ten minutes, the Chinese in Bayswater almost unilaterally attacked West Ham United.

Facing the opponent's iron defense, Bayswater Chinese's shots were mostly from the outside and were blocked again and again, and they were never able to break through the opponent's defense.

But in the 42nd minute, Kyle Walker, who was attacking forward, suddenly cut into the penalty area diagonally, received Toni Kroos's diagonal pass, and headed the ball back to the left side of the small penalty area.

Gareth Bale made a forward run and shot from a small angle, sending the ball into the West Ham United goal, scoring the first goal for the team.

1 is better than 0!

Just 2 minutes into the second half, Modric made a free kick from the left and Pepe headed the ball into the goal from the left side of the small penalty area, scoring another goal for the team.

2 is better than 0!

After that, the Chinese in Bayswater launched continuous offensives.

In the 66th minute, Pepe headed the ball to a corner kick, and Thiago Silva kicked the ball into the goal from the edge of the small penalty area, 3-0!

West Ham United suffered a crushing defeat!
The Hammers were almost able to score in the 71st minute, but Courtois made a great save to keep the goal.

In the 81st minute, Walcott made a precise cross from the right, Gareth Bale cut in from the middle and headed the ball into the goal from close range, scoring his second goal.

4 is better than 0!

Anyone could see that the Chinese in Bayswater could no longer suppress their attack at this point.

In the 82nd minute, West Ham United midfielder Kevin Nolan was sent off with a direct red card for an elbow foul while defending Toni Kroos.

After the German midfielder slowed down a bit on the field, in the 84th minute, he sent the ball into the left side of the penalty area with a wonderful through pass. Gareth Bale quickly moved forward and shot into the far corner with his left foot.

This is also the area where the Welsh are best at scoring goals!
hat trick!

5 is better than 0!

Gareth Bale rushed to the sidelines for the third time and made a heart-shaped celebration gesture to the live camera!

Even in the 89th minute, Bayswater Chinese had another chance.

De Bruyne, who came on as a substitute, made a wonderful diagonal pass.

Gareth Bale rushed into the left side of the penalty area and passed the ball to the right.

But Walcott didn't time his sprint well, and missed the chance to shoot in front of the right post by just a little bit.

The little tiger's sliding shot made him slide into the goal, but the ball just brushed the post and went out of the bottom line.

Walcott pounded his hands on the ground in frustration.

In the end, Bayswater Chinese beat West Ham United 5-0 at home!

……

Two consecutive rounds were home wins, and complete victories!
This immediately made everyone see the strength of the Chinese in Bayswater.

If the goals were scored by the young players in the middle of the week, then at the weekend, Gareth Bale's hat trick and the goals scored by the two central defenders more or less exposed some of the team's problems.

The attack on the front line is still a little lacking.

But everyone admits that things are getting better for the Chinese in Bayswater.

"Yang Cheng's team is getting rid of Lewandowski's shadow!"

How to say?
Compared with the first three rounds of last season, this season they have scored 14 goals and conceded only 1 goal.

But what about last season?
Scored 13 goals and conceded 3 goals.

At first glance, it seems that only the defense is slightly better.

But if you dig deeper, you'll immediately notice the difference.

In the first three rounds of last season, the team had 2 wins and 1 draw, but this season, the team has won 3 games in a row.

More importantly, all 13 goals last season came from just six players.

The 14 goals this season came from 10 players, which can be said to be everywhere.

This actually shows some differences.

As the team's head coach, Yang Cheng knew very well that such a comparison was not objective enough.

Lewandowski's departure makes the team's goals more scattered, which can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing.

This can reduce the team's dependence on a certain player, but on the other hand, once it comes to a strong dialogue, the lack of an absolute strong point may not necessarily be a good thing.

This is like the first round against Manchester City, the team missed a lot of scoring opportunities.

But the team seized the opportunity in the subsequent matches against mid- and lower-level teams such as Fulham and West Ham United.

No matter what, winning three games in a row is a good thing for the team.

The other 9 games have ended and the results of the matchups between the teams have also been announced.

After Arsenal were upset at home in the first round of the league and were tied by Aston Villa, they defeated Fulham 3-1 away this time.

Yang Cheng felt that Wenger should thank him for this game.

At the very least, Fulham was severely damaged in the midweek, resulting in the Cottagers being unable to stop Arsenal's attack by the weekend.

All three goals came in the first half.

Liverpool beat Aston Villa 1-0 away from home thanks to Sturridge's goal.

Manchester City beat Cardiff 4-0 away from home.

But in this round, Manchester United drew 0-0 with Chelsea at home.

After the game, Mourinho blamed the failure to beat Manchester United away on the double matches in a week.

The general evaluation of the British media on this game is, boring!

Even the Daily Mail, which is close to Chelsea, commented on the game after the game and bluntly said that it was a disappointing dialogue between two strong teams.

"It was a highly anticipated match. Mourinho challenged Ferguson in his first away game after returning to the Premier League, but the result was disappointing."

"For Premier League fans, this game is a pure failure!"

"This battle made Old Trafford stink!"

The reason why it was criticized was that Manchester United had some problems in defense, but Mourinho's team was more focused on studying how to defend and did not dare to put troops into offense.

Sky Sports even described it as, "Whether it's Manchester United or Chelsea, whenever the opponent gets the ball in the midfield, they will choose to shrink densely near the penalty area and try every means to kill all space."

"Manchester United's Evra didn't come forward to assist as often as usual, and Rooney often returned to the front of the penalty area to defend."

"Chelsea's two full-backs Ashley Cole and Ivanovic no longer pressed forward, and Lampard and Ramires stayed firmly in front of the defense line."

Relatively speaking, Manchester United played more proactively.

But after Ferguson was hit by several counterattacks by Chelsea in the early stages of the game, he retreated.

The Times is more direct, believing that in this season's Premier League, six teams capable of challenging for the championship will compete for four Champions League spots.

Each team's strategy is clearly different.

Whether it is Manchester United or Chelsea, the first priority is "not losing".

Reduce mistakes and wait for opponents to make mistakes, this is their game strategy!

But both Ferguson and Mourinho blamed their opponents, believing that it was their opponent's conservatism that led to the dull draw.

……

After finishing the second round of the Premier League on the 25th, the Chinese players from Bayswater rested in London for three days. It was not until noon on the 2th that they took a special plane from London to Prague, Czech Republic.

This year's European Super Cup was not held at the Stade Louis II in Monaco, but at the Eden Stadium in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

Therefore, the Chinese team from Bayswater arrived in Prague at noon, checked into the hotel booked in advance, and then went to the Eden Stadium in the afternoon for training to familiarize themselves with the field.

The same is basically true for Chelsea.

In the evening, Yang Cheng watched the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony and the subsequent award ceremony in the hotel room with the coaching staff.

Bayswater Chinese were represented by CEO Adam Crozier at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco.

Even before the draw, the 32 teams participating in the group stage had been divided into four tiers according to their European competition points.

The entire UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony was presided over by UEFA Secretary General Infantino and Competition Director Marchetti.

This season's Champions League final will be held at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, so before the draw ceremony, the legendary captain McNeill, who helped Benfica win the Champions League that year, appeared holding the Big Ear Cup.

Luis Figo, the ambassador of the host city of the Champions League final, also appeared.

In the subsequent draw ceremony, Figo will be the guest throughout the process of drawing the team groups.

McNeill is responsible for drawing the first tier of teams.

As the defending champions and with outstanding performance in European competitions in the past few years, Bayswater Chinese appear as the top seeded team.

Moreover, it was the first group drawn by McNeill, and Figo was also placed in Group A.

This is very fresh indeed.

The defending champion was drawn first and was drawn into Group A, which is really rare.

But the subsequent draw did not seem so good.

There are many strong teams in the second tier, such as Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Juventus, all of which are strong teams.

The strongest among them should be Simeone's Atletico Madrid.

The guest responsible for drawing the team changed from McNeill to Barcelona godfather Cruyff.

But coincidentally, the first team Cruyff drew was AC Milan. What's more interesting is that the group Figo drew for AC Milan was Group A again.

The Rossoneri were placed in the same group as the Chinese from Bayswater.

"It's no big deal, we are not afraid of AC Milan!" Yang Cheng still felt that everything was normal at this time.

At least, we were lucky enough to avoid Atletico Madrid, right?
The guest for the third tier draw is Michael Owen.

There are many talented players in this tier of teams.

Manchester City, Dortmund, Leverkusen and Nice are all teams from the top five leagues.

Among them, Nice was also a team that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season.

In addition, teams like Ajax, Zenit, Galatasaray and others are not easy to deal with either.

According to the same country avoidance principle, Manchester City would not be drawn into this group.

But this time, the first team Owen drew was Bayer Leverkusen.

Figo is responsible for drawing the groups.

When reaching in to grab the ball, Figo also joked that he hoped the team drawn this time was not Group A.

"Otherwise, tomorrow morning, everyone will say there is something fishy going on!"

There was also a burst of laughter at the scene.

But what no one expected was that after the ball was opened, Group A appeared inside again!
The top three teams, the first team drawn, were all placed in Group A.

This is very outrageous!
However, at this moment, Yang Cheng and everyone else felt fine.

"We avoided the strongest team Dortmund in the third tier. Our luck was pretty good!" Yang Cheng commented with a smile.

Brian Kidd looked at the fourth gear.

"According to the principle of avoiding the same country, we drew AC Milan in the second pot and avoided Naples in the fourth pot."

"Among the remaining seven teams, except Real Sociedad, there are no teams from the top five leagues, Portugal, Eredivisie, Russia, Ukraine and other countries. They are not difficult to deal with!"

"Choose 7 from 1. It can't be that unlucky, right?"

Everyone also laughed.

This probability is indeed a bit low.

The guest for the fourth tier draw is Portuguese legendary football star Paulo Sousa.

This time, the first team he drew was Copenhagen, but Figo did not draw Group A this time.

Yang Cheng and others were somewhat disappointed.

Subsequently, the teams in the fourth pot were drawn one by one, but Group A never appeared.

Everyone's heart gradually became anxious.

Especially after seeing teams like Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, Viktoria Plzen and Austria Vienna being drawn from other groups one by one, everyone became really nervous.

When it came to the sixth draw, Paulo Sousa drew Anderlecht.

"This is the last chance!" Brian Kidd clenched his fists tightly.

"If it's not Group A this time, I will seriously suspect that there must be something fishy!" Gianni Vio was also a little angry.

This probability is too low.

In the first three tiers of draws, all of them were drawn into Group A as the first lot.

As a result, the fourth tier has not yet been drawn into Group A, which is a bit outrageous.

The only three teams left are Anderlecht, Napoli and Real Sociedad.

If Anderlecht is drawn now and it is no longer in Group A, doesn't that mean that the Chinese in Bayswater will be drawn into Real Sociedad?
Because Naples will not draw with the Chinese in Bayswater!

Figo looked somewhat embarrassed at this moment. He repeatedly stated that he really did not do it on purpose and that the balls were drawn randomly.

But in the end, Anderlecht was drawn into Group C this time.

The whole audience was suddenly in an uproar.

The live TV camera even gave a special close-up of Adam Crozier.

The CEO of Bayswater Chinese seemed to have expected the camera to find him, so he had a smile on his face.

Yang Cheng and others sighed.

"There must be something fishy going on here! There must be something fishy going on!" Brian Kidd shouted.

There is no need to choose the last two teams at all.

After Napoli was drawn, the small group in Group A was removed, leaving only Group F.

The last team, Real Sociedad, was naturally drawn into Group A.

After the 32 teams were drawn, the four teams in Group A were Bayswater Chinese, AC Milan, Leverkusen and Real Sociedad.

One group brings together teams from four major leagues!
Looking at the eight groups in the Champions League group stage, Group A has the smallest gap in strength and the most intense competition.

Needless to say, the Chinese in Bayswater are undoubtedly a unique team in terms of strength.

But AC Milan was third in Serie A last season, Leverkusen was third in the Bundesliga last season, and Real Sociedad was fourth in La Liga last season.

In other words, the remaining three teams are fully capable of challenging the Chinese in Bayswater.

Yes, if we pick one team out individually, Yang Cheng’s team is the strongest.

But so what?

At that time, they will have to play in the Premier League and the Champions League in the middle of the week. The opponents are so strong, which will be a huge challenge for the Chinese in Bayswater.

Even if you are not careful, you might capsize in a ditch.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call it the group of death.

After listening to Brian Kidd's complaints, Yang Cheng smiled and said comfortingly: "At least, we don't have to go to Ukraine, Russia or Northern Europe to play games in icy weather, nor do we have to travel a long distance to Turkey. That's good."

This is indeed true!
But having teams from the four major leagues in one group in the Champions League is still somewhat of a headache.

Yang Cheng certainly would not say that in his previous life, AC Milan also performed poorly this season.

Real Sociedad has also declined sharply.

Only Leverkusen is still doing well.

Therefore, from the perspective of strength, it should not be a big problem for Bayswater Chinese to qualify as the group leader.

The real challenge is fighting on two fronts.

But he would never reveal a word of these things to anyone.

Because everything has changed now, and he's not sure if these things will continue to happen.

In the subsequent European Best Player award ceremony, the results of the first round of voting showed that the top three players in no particular ranking were Messi, Ronaldo and Lewandowski.

Yang Cheng really wanted to curse Platini, "Fuck you!"

As soon as Lewandowski left the Premier League, he immediately entered the top three!

Of course, if they really want to fight to the death, they have their reasons and evidence.

Last season's double champion of the Premier League and the Champions League, he scored 42 goals in the Premier League. Doesn't he deserve it?
In the first round of voting, Gareth Bale ranked fourth with 57 points, just short of making the top three.

This also made Yang Cheng speechless.

In the second round of voting held on the spot, after the results came out, Lewandowski was elected as the best European player of the year with 36 votes!
Messi only received 13 votes.

C Ronaldo also only had 3 votes.

If nothing unexpected happens, this should also be the top three rankings in the first round of voting.

When seeing this scene, Yang Cheng really wanted to curse UEFA a few more times.

By the way, neither Messi nor Ronaldo went to Monaco to receive the award, even though they already knew they were in the top three.

In his award acceptance speech, Lewandowski specifically mentioned Yang Cheng and the Chinese at Bayswater, as well as his teammates.

He expressed his gratitude to everyone.

Yang Cheng would really like to see whether this ranking will continue in the next FIFA Ballon d'Or?
(End of this chapter)