Chapter 112: Everything is for the Champions League (third update, please give me a monthly vote!)

When February entered, even the smell in the air changed.

UEFA Champions League!

This began to appear frequently in major media.

On February 17, the Champions League knockout stage will start in full swing, with each team fighting against each other to compete for the highest honor of European clubs - the European Champions League.

This world-renowned event actually officially started at this time.

After the European Champions League has been reorganized many times, it is now called the Champions League. After the number of participating teams has increased, there is a significant change that many second- and third-rate league teams have entered the group stage. Of course, this has brought good news to those second- and third-rate league teams, giving them the opportunity to go to the Champions League and earn some appearance fees. But at the same time, the side effect is that the value of the group stage has plummeted, while the water content has soared rapidly. Many teams that fans have never heard of have been shortlisted for the group stage. They never expected to leave their names in this great football event. They just came to play souvenirs and only wanted to get over six games. There are few teams that entered the Champions League but tried their best to prove themselves in this event.

Even Serie A teams like Udinese only regard the Champions League as a chance to boost the value of their players and sell them at a good price, let alone teams in the Bulgarian League, Romanian League, and Israeli League...

Of course, it’s not that many teams don’t want to try hard in the Champions League, but the price of trying hard is too high - this time I won a strong team with my strength, and maybe I will be relegated by the end of the season... It’s really not worth the loss.

But no matter what, the decline in the viewing level of the Champions League group stage is recognized, and many games are simply useless. Many strong teams are unwilling to fight in faraway Eastern Europe in early winter, so the conflict between the giants and UEFA has never disappeared. Although g14 is dead, the idea of ​​forming a game belonging to the giants - the European Super League is still the same.

Today's Champions League has to wait until the knockout stage to be the real "Champions League". Almost all teams that can enter the top 16 have two tricks... Of course, Mr. Nan Guo naturally has them, but they usually don't go too far...

The Champions League quarterfinals are about to begin in half a month, which has made many fans active.

We also paid more attention to the sixteen teams participating in the Champions League quarterfinals.

Not only are the fans, but also many professionals who are following them, and even scouts from participating teams...

From the recent leagues of each team, the status of this team, especially the status of several major players, can be inferred.

This is part of analyzing opponents.

However, for the opponents of Naples and Real Madrid, there is no need for this. Real Madrid is a giant among the giants. Their games are everywhere. The media reports on them all day long that their players can be gossiped by the media, so there is no need for Naples to send scouts to Spain to observe their opponent's recent status.

And what about Real Madrid? They obviously don’t need to know what Naples is like.

Everyone understands that whether Real Madrid can break the Eight Curse depends entirely on themselves. It can even be said that whether they can win the tenth Champions League trophy in club history depends entirely on themselves. In this world, as long as they are serious and perform normally, the team that can defeat them is almost non-existent.

But this is nonsense... meaningless.

Because Real Madrid has never been normal in recent years! Judging from this season, their chances of normalcy are very small...

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After February, not only the fans and media have put their minds on the Champions League, but even the players themselves seem a little absent-minded.

Their absent-mindedness is reflected in the fact that Napoli, who played with all the main players, lost 1:3 to Udinese away.

In this game, even Chen Yingxiong was not in shape.

The commentator can understand this absent-mindedness of the entire Naples team: "It can be seen that Naples players are already considering the Champions League 16th final, although they are still ten days away..."

Therefore, the Napoli players who lost the game did not feel any frustration or sadness. They lost if they lost. It doesn’t matter if they fell from third in the league to fourth in the league.

Even Mazarri expressed his understanding of the players' performance at the post-match press conference.

"…The players want the Champions League? This is normal, and I don't think it's a bad thing. Because it means that our players have enough motivation and fighting spirit, and they are not intimidated by the names of our opponents..."

Don't think that Mazarri is just wiping the players' bad performances in front of the media.

In fact, Mazarri has long known about this - he is the team's head coach, how could he not know the internal movements of the team?

Even the result of losing to Udinese was mentally prepared.

Temporary strategy to abandon the domestic league is simply his arrangement.

So the team lost to Udinese, of course he would not have any surprises or angry thoughts.

There are still ten days left before the Champions League? So what? Naples' opponent is Real Madrid... No, to go far, maybe the entire UEFA.

So it is completely normal to start preparing for these two quarterfinals more than ten days in advance, and Mazarri didn't think there was anything wrong.

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On February 14th, in the 24th round of the Serie A, Napoli continued their away game. As a result, they tied Siena 0:0 away, and Siena is currently ranked 20th in the league, with a total of 20 teams in Serie A, which means that Siena is currently the last...

It is far from the time of a relegation battle, and Siena still has a chance to turn the tables. So it was really intentional to be tied by Siena away.

Three days later, the team will play against Real Madrid.

According to the schedule, they have to go away first.

Naples will personally go to the football temple Bernabeu Stadium to challenge the overlord there.

Although Mazarri constantly instilled propaganda to the players at the beginning of the season, telling them that the real Naples should be a team that "is not afraid of heaven or earth, and is not afraid of Europe and the earth", spirit is a matter of one thing, and actual examples have another matter of another.

In terms of strength, Naples is really not comparable to Real Madrid. People don’t know how many times the fiscal budget of a year is that of Naples. To give the biggest simple example, Real Madrid’s star Cristiano Ronaldo’s annual salary is almost as close to the annual salary budget of the entire Naples team…

In terms of strength, Naples is weaker than Real Madrid, but this is definitely not a reason to admit defeat in advance.

Since you are determined to compete with Real Madrid, you must be well prepared.

Naples is not Real Madrid, so we cannot "mainly put ourselves first", of course we need to study our opponents. It is normal to start preparing half a month in advance.

Anyway, the team's current ranking is OK, and they have always been in the first legion of the league. For the time being, Mazarri is confident that she will catch up later. At least it is okay to keep a spot in the European competition.

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There was no win in two consecutive games, and the Italian media also knew that Napoli was really preparing for a match against Real Madrid.

After all, the opponent is too strong, so it is normal to start preparing two games in advance.

Next, Naples has to go to the Bernabeu Stadium to challenge the powerful Real Madrid.

That white giant is not the same team as them...

After playing against Siena, the entire Naples team set off for Madrid to prepare for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid in the midweek.

"We can only wish them good luck because their opponents are so powerful that they are suffocating - Pellegrini's Real Madrid has scored 53 goals in the 22nd round of the league, tied with Barcelona for the most offensive team in La Liga. Such goals also make them proud of the entire European football world. Naples' defense has always been a shortcoming. Although the team has introduced former Italian No. 2 country de Sanctis during the winter break, it is still very worrying whether Real Madrid can withstand it..."

When Naples set off, local media in Naples said this with concern.

In the eyes of many people, this signing basically announced in advance that Naples' journey back to the Champions League was over after 18 years.

Naples' chances of defeating Real Madrid are too slim.

Now they can only hope that Naples can be more manly at the Bernabeu and not losers...

No matter what, we are also Maradona's team. How could that team with such a rebellious personality bow to the powerful? Not to mention that Maradona once played for Barcelona and was a mortal enemy of Real Madrid.

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"Bernabeu!" On the plane to Madrid, many players were very excited about being able to play at the Bernabeu, especially Hamsik. He once expressed his yearning for Real Madrid while chatting with Chen Yingxiong in private, saying that if he had the opportunity to go to a wealthy family in the future, his first choice would definitely be Real Madrid.

Compared with his excited teammates, Casano's performance is relatively dull. First of all, he has played many games at the Bernabeu, because he used to be a Real Madrid player. Secondly, his career in Real Madrid can be described as "bad", so he has no deep feelings for this team and the stadium.

Before boarding the plane, a reporter came to ask him if he had any special feelings about going to the Bernabeu. The reporter hinted that he could say something similar to "a wanderer returns home" and "returning home in glory". As a result, Casano said with a cold face: "This is just an ordinary Champions League match."

The reporter who had prepared a lot of things had all the questions that followed were choked...

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Chapter completed!