Soccer: Maxed-out ball control, the skill is too overpowered.

Paris Saint-Germain 4-2 Chelsea

Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 Zenit Saint Petersburg

Barcelona 5-1 Arsenal

Atletico Madrid 5-0 Genk

Manchester City 3-1 Porto

Real Madrid 4-1 Manchester United

Wolfsburg 3-2 Roma

Juventus 4-4 (3-4 on penalties) Bayern Munich

In recent days, the Atlético Madrid coaching staff has arranged for everyone to review all the matches of this year's Champions League Round of 16.

To be honest, the result was a bit unexpected for Lu Xiao, but it was also reasonable.

Aside from Lu Xiao himself, who would have thought that the Premier League champions in the 2015-2016 season would be the relatively unknown Leicester City?

Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur, who were expected to perform well, all faltered.

Leicester City have quietly taken the top spot in the Premier League with their consistent performance, shocking the entire nation!

Before the season started, Leicester City's odds of winning the title were 1 in 5000!

The odds were even higher than if Kim Kardashian had been elected president of North America, which shows how far-fetched it was.

Perhaps only Lu Xiao in the whole world truly understands what the "Leicester City miracle" means!

The changes in football have created a huge butterfly effect, but they still cannot stop the magical Leicester City from marching toward the championship.

Why wasn't Manchester United mentioned...?

Since Ferguson's retirement, with David Moyes and Van Gaal taking over the team, can Manchester United still be expected to perform well? Impossible.

This team is rotten.

……

Chelsea, who were at the top level in Europe just a few years ago, have plummeted this year.

Mourinho's first two seasons at Chelsea were top-notch, but his third season saw him enter the familiar phase of "catching the mole."

The "three-year curse" seems to be inescapable.

Their loss to rising football power Paris Saint-Germain was not an upset.

Just kidding, PSG has world-class superstars like Lavezzi, Ibrahimovic, and Di Maria, how could they be a weak team?

How could a team with superhuman oil capital be a weak team?

The arrogant Englishmen still approached Paris with the same old mindset, thinking that Ligue 1 was a fringe league and indulging in the dream of being the Premier League's top league.

In reality, the Premier League's fighting strength has not been very strong in recent years.

In the first leg at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were thrashed 1-2 by PSG. In the second leg at PSG's home ground, they were again thrashed 2-1 by PSG.

The core members of that era—Drogba, Ramires, Essien, Willian, Lampard, Terry, and Cech—are now old.

The new squad is in a transitional phase, and with Mourinho dropping De Bruyne, the dressing room is in chaos.

It's normal for it to end up like this.

The gap in hard power is significant; we are simply outmatched in skill.

……

Bayer Leverkusen's 3-2 victory over Zenit St. Petersburg was quite thrilling.

Lu Xiao really hopes his former employer can go further.

After all, they are a team that has reached the Champions League semi-finals for two consecutive years. Even though their key players are no longer with them, they still have enough fighting power.

With the help of many former teammates such as Kissling, Lars Bender, and Rolfes, they managed to defeat St. Petersburg with great difficulty.

But it becomes very difficult to go any further after that.

Without Lu Xiao in high-level matches, I can't imagine how Leverkusen could win.

……

There's not much to review about Barcelona's 5-1 victory over Arsenal.

Arsenal at their peak had world-class striker Robin van Persie, numerous top Premier League midfielders, and Arsène Wenger at the height of his career.

Even with those tactics, they still couldn't beat Barcelona.

Arsenal is currently in a slump, having gone without a title for years, and Wenger is facing the risk of being sacked. The team lacks a dominant star player.

After being eliminated by Lu Xiao, Barcelona learned from their mistakes and the MSN trio shone brightly on the world stage, displaying peak performance.

This Barcelona team might be Atletico Madrid's biggest rival!

The team's control of the game, as shown in the match footage, left everyone at Atlético Madrid speechless with awe.

Head coach Simeone frowned, his expression grave.

If they meet Barcelona in the quarterfinals, that will be the toughest battle ever.

……

Other matches don't offer much tactical value for analysis.

It's mostly a matter of pure skill overpowering others, or just good luck.

The defending champions Juventus and the former defending champions Bayern Munich are evenly matched; both sides are very strong and neither can gain much of an advantage.

So the score went from 2-2 to 4-4, then to extra time, and then to a penalty shootout.

In the end, it was purely a matter of courage and luck. Juventus' star player Pogba's mentality collapsed a bit at the end, and his change of rhythm for the penalty kick was very stiff, resulting in a half-high ball.

The goalkeeper is best suited to make saves on these weak, half-high balls, and Neuer easily blocked the ball.

Ultimately, Bayern Munich, along with Wolfsburg and Leverkusen, advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals.

The "Spanish Big Three" – Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and Atletico Madrid – have all advanced to the quarterfinals.

La Liga and the Bundesliga each have three teams that have qualified, making them the two biggest winners.

Manchester City is the only remaining hope in the Premier League, while Paris Saint-Germain is the only French team remaining in Ligue 1.

Serie A and other leagues were completely wiped out.

Due to Italy's economic downturn, the impact of the Calciopoli scandal, and the chaotic domestic football environment...

Italian football is getting worse every year.

Just look at the Italian national team; they were once world champions, European champions, and one of the most competitive teams in the world.

They're practically like the European national football team now, slowly losing their chance to even qualify for the World Cup.

……

That evening, the draw for the Champions League quarterfinals was held in Monaco.

The 2016 Champions League final was held at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy.

The guest present at the draw was Javier Zanetti, a legend of Inter Milan and captain of the 09/10 Champions League-winning team.

Lu Xiao was at home this time and video-chatted with Chloe to watch the lottery ceremony together.

"Lu, what should I do? I'm a little nervous."

"There's a way."

"What?"

"Take a picture of your legs and send it to me. After you send it, you won't be nervous anymore."

"Hantai!"

Chloe spoke angrily in a very anime-like tone.

Lu Xiao cracked a few jokes and teased the shy girl from time to time; it was quite amusing to see her blushing face.

Finally, after getting through the preliminaries, let's get to the main topic.

Zanetti's first draw was an all-Bundesliga match.

Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen!

On the screen, head coach Sasha, who was attending the draw ceremony, looked embarrassed.

Lu Xiao could even imagine that Sasha was secretly cursing at this moment.

Bayern Munich's fighting strength has increased this season, while Leverkusen's has decreased, making it difficult for them to defeat Bayern.

The next opponent drawn was...

Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg!

The bad news is that not many Bundesliga teams are likely to make it to the semi-finals.

Good news, at least one team can be guaranteed a spot.

With four teams eliminated, Atletico Madrid now faces a choice between Manchester City, Barcelona, ​​and Paris Saint-Germain.

Sure enough, Javier Zanetti was the first to draw a familiar name!

"Atletico de Madrid!"

hiss--

Even through the screen, Lu Xiao could hear the collective gasp from everyone in the venue!

The tension of the lottery ceremony reached its peak!

Atletico Madrid fans are naturally very nervous; no matter which team they are drawn against, it will be a tough battle.

Especially Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid fans really don't want to face them early on.

If fans want to face Barcelona, ​​they would prefer to meet them in the semi-finals.

That's right, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester City are in the same half of the draw.

This means that these four teams cannot meet in the final; only one team can advance to the final.

at the same time,

Fans of Barcelona, ​​Manchester City, and Paris Saint-Germain are all on edge!

Anyone would panic when facing Atletico Madrid!

The disastrous performances of Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Manchester United, Arsenal, and other teams in the Champions League knockout stages of last year and the year before are still fresh in our minds.

No one can advance easily from Lu Xiao's hands!

This sunny, East Asian-looking boy...

At this moment, he is practically the Grim Reaper, cloaked in black and wielding a giant scythe!

"Lu, what should we do? What if it's Barcelona? That would be terrible."

"It's okay, no matter who we face, we'll make it to the finals."

Lu Xiao's tone was firm enough that Chloe's slightest sense of tension vanished instantly.

Instead, through the phone, I felt a warm and safe sensation.

It felt like being held in his arms...

Ahhhh! Chloe! What are you thinking?!

"Are you alright? Why is your face red again?"

"It's the lighting! It's the lighting!" Chloe quickly moved the camera away, changing the subject.

Lu Xiao almost couldn't hold back.

This German sweet girl is so easily amused; I didn't even have to tease her before she reacted like this.

I wonder how red my face would be if I had a closer relationship with her.

Lu Xiao couldn't care less about teasing the girl for the time being.

Zanetti pulled out another small ball, opened the outer shell, and unfolded the paper strip inside!

Manchester City!

Manchester City!

Not Barcelona!

call--

Fortunately, it seems Barcelona and Barcelona will meet in the semi-finals.

Lu Xiao was very satisfied with the result.

Last year, their opponent was also Barcelona in the semi-finals. They later made it to the final, but were unable to participate due to a suspension, and ultimately missed out on the Champions League title.

This time!

UEFA has changed the rules regarding suspensions based on accumulated yellow cards, resetting yellow cards to zero before the semi-finals.

This means that I have a greater chance of appearing in the finals!

This time, I won't miss that damn trophy again!

Thinking of this, Lu Xiao quickly sent a message.

Lu: [We can meet now!]

Kevin: [Get lost! I don't want to see you! Damn it!]

Lu Xiao grinned.

Rather than teasing Chloe,

It's quite fun to tease De Bruyne!