On the evening of the 26th, the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League group stage draw was held in Istanbul.
Because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Juventus, Manchester United, Liverpool and other powerful players gather in the second gear, the group of deaths that are bound to appear will eventually be placed in the A and B groups. The two super giants Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, which had fought in the knockouts last season, will compete with another dark horse Leipzig RB that has performed well in the knockouts in recent years in a fierce three-team battle for two seats.
The La Liga champions Atletico are in the same group as Liverpool and AC Milan, and the situation will also be particularly tragic. In addition, Bayern and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter, who have played in the Champions League in recent years, will also fight in the group stage.
The UEFA Champions League final this season will be held on May 29 next year, hosted in St. Petersburg, Russia. The first round of group matches will start on September 15th and 16th, and will end on December 9th for 6 match days.
Chelsea is the defending champion, and most of the guests in this UEFA Champions League draw are naturally from Chelsea's faces. In the 2011-12 season, Essien and Ivanovic, the champions of the Blues for the first time in the Champions League, dominated the overall situation. Although Bayern, Real Madrid, Ajax and AC Milan's "30 crown group" that could theoretically appear before the draw did not appear, starting from the second round, when Dortmund was sent to the group of Sporting Lisbon, there was a breath of "death" It began to spread.
The two first sent Real Madrid to Inter Milan's Group D, and then Liverpool faced the knockout enemy Atletico Madrid in the 2019-20 season. After the crazy signings of Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City this summer, Juventus and Chelsea were in the same group, Barcelona, with "nowhere to go", unexpectedly hit Bayern with a 50% probability. The last second seed, Manchester United, was relatively lucky to enter the F group where Villarreal is.
In the ensuing third and fourth draws, Leipzig RB unfortunately fell into the siege of Manchester City and Paris, and Herife, who witnessed this scene, became more and more serious.
AC Milan, the most eye-catching in the fourth gear, was lucky to avoid Group A with a 50% chance of being seated. Atletico Madrid and Liverpool are obviously more ideal opponents. Compared with the two deadly groups, Group C composed of Sporting Lisbon, Dortmund, Ajax, and Besiktas, it is in the same position as Lille, Seville, Red Bull Salzburg and Wolfsburg. In Group G, not only is there no strong team, but the chances of qualifying are more equal.
It is worth mentioning that the Western Super League duo and Juventus, who participated in the establishment of the super league last season, are not outstanding this time.
Although Real Madrid has more wins and fewer losses against Inter Milan, the expedition to Eastern Europe is obviously a great test for the team's physical and health. Apart from Barcelona facing the bitter host Bayern, the same group of Benfica and Kyiv Dynamo are known for being elusive and slightly careless. The second group may not be safe. As for Juventus, there is a high probability of losing Cristiano Ronaldo's Bianconeri. Faced with a strong defending champion, the winning side will be further reduced.
Taking the major leagues as a reference object, there is obviously no absolute winner in this group. For the five teams in La Liga, the traditional top three are facing tough battles. On the contrary, Sevilla and Villarreal, who have a high probability of winning the championship, have good luck.
Among the four Premier League teams, only Manchester United, which has been weak in Europe in recent years, is considered good luck in theory. The other three teams are facing direct confrontations with at least one opponent of the same weight.
In the Bundesliga, Leipzig is in the dead group. Although Bayern and Dortmund are in a good situation, the group's fault tolerance rate is not high.
The only person in Serie A who can be comfortable is probably only Atlanta. In recent years, Inter Milan has made accidental mistakes in the group stage and AC Milan's bad group situation, which is very likely to make Serie A the existence with the highest elimination rate in the group stage.
Of course, the biggest highlight of this group stage is undoubtedly Group A. The super strong teams will compete with each other to determine their quality. Guardiola and Pochettino, the two-year-old opponents who fought hard in the knockout rounds, will settle their grievances with a fully upgraded lineup this time.
Once Cristiano Ronaldo landed in Etihad before the transfer window closed, after last season's group stage, he will continue to meet Messi directly, but this time the two have played for different teams.
At least 5 of the 8 teams have the situation of traditional strong teams at the same time. cabportal analyzed that this also means that the knockout in the next February will be doomed to have a more tragic life and death duel between giants.