Chapter 85 Second Stage of the Champions League Group Stage

After entering mid-November, the first stage of the Champions League group stage ushered in the final round of games. Previously, although Manchester United had qualified two rounds in advance, they were unable to secure first place in the group due to their disastrous defeat in Israel in the last round.

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In today's Champions League, due to the competition system, the importance of first place in the group is not as obvious as it was later, but being able to lock in the first place in the group is still good for the team's classification.

In addition to the loss in the Manchester City derby last weekend, in order to get rid of the impact of this defeat on the team, Ferguson still hopes that Manchester United will win this Champions League game and send many main players to play in this game.

The Neville brothers, who performed poorly in the middle, both sat on the bench. Beckham put on the captain's armband, Yin Jun moved to the center again, and teenager O'Shea played the right back position that he was unfamiliar with. Leverkusen midfielder Bass

Turk was suspended and defensive general Lucio was put on ice.

After the start, Manchester United was obviously still affected by the Manchester City Derby defeat, and the team seemed to be in poor condition.

In the 16th minute, Manchester United suffered a blow. Leverkusen midfielder Burdaric broke through the middle and was knocked down by Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo. Ricardo was given a yellow card and Leverkusen got a penalty kick. But the good news is that

, Leverkusen's Czech midfielder Simak took a penalty kick, but shot the ball away, and Manchester United escaped.

Manchester United finally broke the deadlock at the end of the first half.

In the 42nd minute, Van Nistelrooy controlled Beckham's pass at the edge of the penalty area, and then knocked it back to Yin Jun. Yin Jun picked up the ball and volleyed it into the lower left corner from 20 meters.

This is Yin Jun's fourth goal in the Champions League this season, continuing his good performance in the Champions League.

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After the start of the second half, the situation on the field was still under Manchester United's control.

In the 69th minute, Manchester United played smoothly. Scholes missed Yin Jun's pass, and Ruud van Nistelrooy's shot passed through the crotch of goalkeeper Bute and entered the net. Yin Jun has 5 assists in the Champions League this season.

Four of these times were attributed to Ruud van Nistelrooy.

In the Champions League, Yin Jun showed a good understanding with the Dutch forward. His goal today was an assist from Ruud van Nistelrooy, and now he reciprocates the favor by assisting Ruud van Nistelrooy to score.

In the 77th minute, Beckham was replaced by Solskjaer. He was injured after colliding with an opponent. The team doctor said he may have injured his ribs.

Towards the end of the game, Ferdinand limped off with a strained thigh. Manchester United, which had run out of substitutions, fought with ten men in the last 5 minutes to preserve the victory.

In the end, Manchester United achieved 5 wins and 1 loss in the six group matches, firmly occupying the first place in the group. However, it is not clear whether it is a good deal or not for Manchester United to win the first place in the group at the cost of two generals being injured.

Not cost effective.

Yin Jun became the best performer for Manchester United in the first stage of the group stage. He played 5 times in 6 games, contributed 4 goals, 5 assists, and also made 1 penalty kick. He was the 32nd team in the first stage of the group stage.

The player who directly produces the most goals in the team!

With his outstanding performance in the Champions League, Yin Jun's odds of being ranked on the 50-man European Ballon d'Or shortlist are also rising.

In another game in this group, Maccabi Haifa drew with Olympiakos 3:3 away from home. They scored 7 points in the group stage and entered the UEFA Cup in third place.

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The first stage of the group stage has come to an end, and the result is naturally that some teams are happy and some are sad.

The performance of the four Premier League teams at this stage is still good. Manchester United and Arsenal both advanced to the top 16 as the first in the group stage. Newcastle also got lucky by defeating Feyenoord of the Eredivisie in the final round.

On the last train to the top 16, only the Red Army Liverpool became the loser. They were tied 3:3 by Basel in Switzerland as a guest and had to regretfully switch to the UEFA Cup.

Liverpool played very tenaciously in Basel, which can be described as soul-stirring. They suffered a nightmare start on the away road, conceding a goal in just 90 seconds and trailing 0:3 at half-time. In the second half, Liverpool began to despair.

In the counterattack, Murphy, Smicer and Irving scored three goals in a row, rewriting the score to 3:3!

But unfortunately, the hole they dug for themselves was too deep in the first half and they were unable to climb out of it in the end.

As for the entire first stage of the Champions League group stage, Spain and Italy are undoubtedly the big winners, because all four teams from these two major leagues participating in the Champions League advanced to the top 16.

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UEFA stipulates that in the second stage of the Champions League, teams in the same group cannot be from the same country, and teams that were previously grouped in the first stage cannot be regrouped.

In addition, this time the 16 teams will be divided into four levels. Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona, ​​and Valencia are the first level. Three of these teams are from Spain, which also indirectly shows that La Liga is the first league in Europe.

; The second tier is AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, and Arsenal. Three of these teams are from Italy, which also shows that Serie A has re-emerged after two seasons of silence; the third tier is Roma and Dortmund.

, Leverkusen, Deportivo, these teams are all second place winners in the group stage; the fourth tier is Basel, Newcastle, Lokomotiv Moscow, Ajax, these four teams can be said

He is the dark horse in the group stage.

According to the grouping rules, Capello's team cannot be grouped with Real Madrid because the two teams were grouped in the group stage, and Roma cannot be grouped with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus.

They are grouped together because they are from the same country. So Roma can only be grouped with Arsenal.

The same is true for Arsenal, they cannot be grouped with Manchester United from the Premier League.

At the draw ceremony for the second stage of the Champions League group stage on November 15th, Beijing time, Manchester United was placed in the same group as Serie A giant Juventus, La Liga's Super League Deportivo, and Swiss giant Basel, which eliminated Liverpool.

This is not a good draw, and none of the three opponents are easy to deal with.

Not to mention Juventus, as the old lady who dominates Serie A, she is definitely one of the most difficult opponents.

Deportivo La Coruna, from La Liga, has been very strong in the past few years at the beginning of the century, and has gained the reputation of "Super Deportivo" in world football. No matter who it is, no one wants to encounter such an opponent.

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The last opponent, Basel from Switzerland, although they seem to be the weakest in the group, they were able to defeat Liverpool and advance to the top 16, which shows their combat effectiveness.

But the result has been determined, and Manchester United can only actively prepare for the game.

According to the schedule, the six group matches in the second stage will be held from mid-November to mid-March next year, spanning as long as four months!
Chapter completed!