Chapter 59: Champions League Knockout Draw
在里卡多领到欧洲金童奖的第三天，12月16日周五中午12时，巴塞罗那的全队都在俱乐部的基地集体观看在瑞士尼翁欧足联总部举行的05/06赛季欧冠16强淘汰赛抽签仪式的电视转播。
President Laporta and sports director Tesicki flew to Zurich together yesterday afternoon to attend the draw ceremony for the Champions League round of 16.
Ricardo, who had just finished morning classes at school and discussed a paper with his coach, hurried back to the base, intending to watch the live broadcast while having lunch. When Ricardo just entered the restaurant to join the team, the first, second and third parts of the draw ceremony had already been completed.
The draw ceremony was hosted by UEFA CEO Olsson. The first part was to play two short films, a clip of the first Champions League final 50 years ago and a brief review of this year's group stage.
The second part is the announcement of the draw rules by the UEFA Club Competitions Director. The 16 qualifying teams will draw the lots according to the following principles: teams from the same football association cannot meet each other (except Liverpool); teams from the same group in the group stage cannot meet each other; teams with the same ranking in the group stage cannot meet each other; the second-ranked team in the group stage plays at home first.
The third part introduces the list of the top 16 teams in this season's Champions League: the eight teams that won the first place in the group are Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona, Villarreal, AC Milan, Lyon, Liverpool, and Inter Milan; the eight teams that qualified as the second in the group are Bayern Munich, Ajax, Bremen, Benfica, Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Glasgow Rangers.
As soon as Ricardo put down his schoolbag, he saw the guest who drew lots drew the first green ball representing the first place in the group - Barcelona!
The TV broadcast showed some close-up shots of the lottery scene, and the important officials sitting below were seen making a commotion, exclaiming, and then whispering to each other...
In the restaurant of the Barcelona club base, except for Ricardo who was still confused, the teammates and coaches who were watching the live broadcast all exclaimed!
It turned out that when Ricardo just entered the restaurant, the guest who drew lots had already drawn the first red ball representing the second place in the group, which was Chelsea!
Barcelona vs. Chelsea, the death formation or the absolute focus battle.
It can be said that this is a result that neither Abrahimovic nor Laporta want to see, and it is also a result that fans of both teams do not want to see. One of the two most powerful teams in Europe is destined to be eliminated from the quarterfinals.
(But apart from the fans of these two teams, other fans will definitely enjoy watching this, the highlight of the match between Mars and the Earth!)
切尔西与巴塞罗那的前7次交手中两队没有平局，切尔西队3胜4负处于下风，进11球失17球。
最近的交锋是在上赛季1/8决赛中，当时切尔西首回合客场1比2不敌巴萨，但在次回合斯坦福球场的比赛中，蓝军队主场4比2上演大逆转，从而以5比4淘汰对手晋级八强。
Therefore, Chelsea may have a greater psychological advantage in comparison. After all, it was they who eliminated Barcelona from the quarterfinals last season. Will history repeat itself this time?
However, I believe that after being disappointed, the Barcelona fans will be filled with the desire for revenge. After all, no Barcelona fan is convinced by the team's elimination last season.
After the draw, Mundo Deportivo also conducted an online poll after the fact: 44% of Barcelona fans would like to see a knockout match against Chelsea, which is 10% more than the fans who chose Glasgow Rangers - this also shows the determination of Barcelona fans to face difficulties without fear of strong enemies.
(Yes, it’s just a stubborn attitude… those who understand will understand…)
After the draw results came out, Barcelona president Laporta and Chelsea executive Kenyon hugged, and Barcelona club vice president Begiristain said: "Last season's game was very good for football. Everyone who loves football will enjoy this level of competition. There is an important difference between this time and last season. Last season we played the second round in London, but this time we played in Barcelona. And the time is also different. Barcelona is in very good form at the moment, and the team will maintain this form until the knockout rounds. Chelsea is the leader of the Premier League, and we still have to challenge them."
Rijkaard unexpectedly said that he did not want to add too much revenge color to the game. "I don't think revenge is an accurate word. We are confident, and this game will be very interesting... Should we say hello to Mourinho? Work is work, courtesy is courtesy, don't worry about it... What happened with Mourinho has been forgotten... We will not repeat the experience of last season. The level of the Champions League is very high, and it can't be said that we are unlucky to draw Chelsea."
……
Back to the draw for the Champions League round of 16, when the discussions about the draw for the previous round of focus matches had not yet died down, a new noise suddenly arose in the venue.
The second pair of opponents drawn were Arsenal and Real Madrid.
This is a conversation between two teams that have had problems recently, and it can be said that they are evenly matched.
From the perspective of style, this is destined to be a technical duel, and it is also a peak duel between the two great strikers Henry and Ronaldo.
Judging from the record, both teams have not performed well in away games this season, so Arsenal, who play away first and then at home, may have a greater advantage.
The following are the results of the subsequent draws:
Juventus vs Werder Bremen
Lyon vs PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan vs Ajax,
Liverpool vs Benfica
Villarreal vs Glasgow Rangers.
The fourth pair drawn also made the audience excited. AC Milan vs. Bayern Munich was another strong dialogue!
两队在欧洲三大杯历史上共交战6场，拜仁慕尼黑队1胜1平4负处于下风(在优胜者杯和冠军杯淘汰赛中各被红黑军团淘汰一次)，进4球失8球。
In comparison, Juventus, Inter Milan and Liverpool all drew good lots.
Among the eight matchups, the one that the media rated as the least interesting would be Villarreal vs. Glasgow Rangers; however, whichever of these two teams makes it to the quarterfinals will create their own history.
In the round of 16, there are two England-Spain duels, and two Serie A-Bundesliga head-to-head matches.
……
欧冠16强的淘汰赛首回合将于2006年的2月21/22日举行，次回合将于2006年的3月7/8日举行。
However, there is a small episode here. The home stadiums of the two Milan teams conflict. However, Inter Milan ranked lower than AC Milan in the league last season, so Inter Milan agreed to postpone the second leg to March 3.
The final will be held in Paris on May 5.
After the draw ceremony for the Champions League round of 16, the famous European bookmaker William Hill quickly adjusted the odds of winning the championship based on the results of the draw.
Juventus emerged as a dark horse and tied with Barcelona for the top spot, both with odds of 6.0. Chelsea's odds were lowered from 5.5 to 7.0, ranking third, which shows that bookmakers are not optimistic about them in the duel with Barcelona.
紧随其后的是并列第4的里昂与国际米兰（赔率9.0），第6的AC米兰（赔率10.0），排名第7的利物浦（赔率12.0）与排名第8的阿森纳（赔率13.0）……
It is worth mentioning that Villarreal drew the "most ideal" opponent Rangers, and their odds of winning the championship soared from 21.0 to 15.0, tied for 9th place with Real Madrid, while Glasgow Rangers' ranking and odds did not change, still ranking 16th with odds of 101.0.
……
After the evening training session, Ricardo learned that he was selected for the next round of the league match and would travel with the team to the Carranza Stadium to challenge the newly promoted Cádiz team.
However, Ronaldinho did not travel with the team this time. The official news was that Ronaldinho had rhinitis...
Riccardo, who went to the airport to pick up Chiara, secretly chatted about gossip with Chiara in the car. He should have rhinitis, but it was probably caused by going to nightclubs every night to celebrate the award in recent days... It's the end of the year, and superstars also need to relax, right?
At 12:17 on December 22, the 16th round of the Spanish Football League A was held. In this round, in addition to Ronaldinho who was absent due to rhinitis, Barcelona welcomed the return of two generals: Marcos and Deco, who were lifted from the ban, replaced Belletti and Gabriel Gabri and returned to the starting lineup respectively.
Rijkaard continues to deploy a 4-3-3 formation, hoping to maintain the winning streak and create history!
The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;
The back line from left to right is No. 12 Van Bronckhorst, No. 5 Puyol, No. 4 Marcos, No. 23 Oleguer;
The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 15 Edmilson, No. 14 Iniesta and No. 20 Deco;
The forward trident is No. 30 Messi replacing Ronaldinho, No. 8 Giuly and No. 9 Eto'o.
Our protagonist Riccardo still started the game from the bench.
At the beginning of the game, I don’t know if it was the first time that Ronaldinho and Xavi were not on the court, Barcelona’s offensive organization was a little chaotic; the newly promoted team Cádiz took advantage of the home advantage and took the initiative in the game in the first 15 minutes, threatening the goal guarded by Valdes several times.
Fortunately, the Barcelona team was still in excellent form. After 15 minutes, they overcame Cadiz's opening three attacks and gradually regained the initiative on the field.
Although Cadiz almost took the lead in the 30th minute, Pavone, who received Jonathan's cross from the left, headed the golden opportunity from the start off the goal in the middle...
And Kadiz, who missed the opportunity, was immediately taught a lesson.
Barcelona took the lead in the 32nd minute. Iniesta passed two players in the middle and passed the ball directly to the right side of the penalty area. Giuly stopped the ball and got rid of it in one go. He dribbled past defender Silva and easily shot into the far corner of the net.
Then Barcelona expanded the score before the end of the first half. During Barcelona's corner kick, Marcos was tripped by De La Cuesta in the penalty area and the referee decisively awarded a penalty.
Since Ronaldinho's father was not there, the Cameroonian cheetah Eto'o took the penalty kick. Eto'o shot the ball directly into the net on the right side, but the referee Gomez demanded a re-penalty.
So Eto'o took another penalty kick, this time he easily pushed the ball into the left side of the goal, but goalkeeper Armando still dived to the right side of the goal...
This is the Cameroonian's 14th league goal this season. This time, Ricardo's complaints about the big African cats taking penalties were also severely slapped in the face by the Cameroon cheetah... I don't know if it hurts, but someone with a thick skin like a city wall probably doesn't care...
Barcelona used efficient attack in the first half to take a 2-goal lead into the halftime break.
……
