Neon (AFP)
On Monday, eyes turn to the European Football Association headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, where the draw for the Champions League final round is drawn, with the inevitability of heavy confrontations due to the names of some unranked teams.
And it was inevitable since the group stage draw was drawn that the final price would witness heavy-caliber confrontations, after last season’s runners-up Manchester City placed Paris Saint-Germain (Group I), Liverpool with Atletico Madrid, Italian Milan, and even Porto (second), Real Madrid, with Inter, the fourth, Bayern Munich with Barcelona, the fifth, and Chelsea, the defending champion, with Juventus, the eighth.
In the group stage, Barcelona failed to qualify for the final price for the first time since the 2003-2004 season, while Milan fell victim to its strong group that Liverpool and Atletico qualified for.
And since Saint-Germain, Atlético, Inter and Chelsea teams qualified for the final price in second place, they naturally face the risk of a tough confrontation while respecting the principle of not meeting two teams from the same country, or two teams that were together in the group stage.
It is certain that all the group leaders, whether City or Ajax of the Netherlands, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and French Lille, are the first-round surprise, and Juventus hope to fall on teams such as Sporting Portugal and its compatriot Benfica and Villarreal, the Spanish champion of “Europe League” last season, and Red Bull Salzburg of Austria .
As for the coach of Lille, the French champion, Joslan Jorvinek: “Whatever the draw is on Monday, this is a historic process for our club.” 2006-2007 season when his career ended at the hands of Manchester United.
Gorvinnik, who took over supervision last summer as a result of the departure of Christophe Galtier, who moved to Nice, preferred to celebrate the achievement of qualifying for the final price instead of thinking about the difficult task that may await his team in the price of the final against Inter, Chelsea or Atletico Madrid.
But he may be lucky and put him in a less difficult confrontation against Sporting, Benfica or Villarreal, which will enhance his chances of following in the footsteps of teams such as Germany’s Leipzig or Italy’s Roma and his compatriot Monaco, which deviated from expectations in the past few years and reached the semi-finals.
In contrast to the night, which is self-avoiding the adults, his compatriot Saint-Germain will be on the contrary, that is, all the ranked teams hope to avoid the Parisian club reinforced this season with Argentine star Lionel Messi, whose impact of his departure was very clear on Barcelona, with the latter’s failure to overcome the group stage after His humiliating defeat in the final round at the hands of Bayern Munich, by three goals.
And after in the past few years he used to face teams such as Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and Real Madrid in the final price, Ajax will be the least harsh option among the other options for Saint Germain in the final price as a result of being satisfied with his victory and the status of his group.
Messi, Brazilian Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and their companions face difficult choices other than that, as the French capital club may meet again with Real Madrid in a meeting that will carry a special flavor not only for Messi and Neymar, but for the other newcomer Sergio Ramos, because he will face his former team if he is the heart of the defense .. recovering
There is also the possibility of meeting Bayern Munich or Liverpool, who are considered the favorites to win the title, after the two teams finished the group stage with full marks, as well as Ajax, but the latter was in a less difficult group that includes Dortmund, Besiktas and Sporting.
Fans of the game wish from neutrals that Saint Germain will face United, in a meeting that will bring together Messi with his Portuguese rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who returns this season to the “Red Devils”, after the departure of the former Real legend from Juventus, who will also be one of the options in front of the French capital club in the face of forming A knot for the latter, as he has never defeated the Torino giants in the eight encounters that brought them together previously (6 defeats and two draws).
Regardless of the identity of the opponent, Saint Germain’s goal is to go to the end and win the title, which escaped the club in 2020 by losing the final to Bayern, according to what his new Moroccan player, Achraf Hakimi, stressed by saying: Our goal is to go to the end, no matter what competitor we face.
As for the Argentine coach of PSG, Mauricio Pochettino: There are big teams (as a potential competition in the price of the final). We’ll see what fate has in store for us. But we are PSG and we have to beat all the clubs.
The eight-final matches will be held on February 15, 16, 22 and 23, first-leg, and March 8, 9, 15 and 16, in the second leg.
On Monday, the European League play-off draw, with its new system, will also be drawn.
16 teams will participate in the play-off draw, including eight runners-up in the second continental competition group stage, and the same from the Champions League after finishing third in their groups, led, of course, by Barcelona.
The winning teams in the continental play-off scheduled for February 17, first-leg and a week later, qualify for the final price to join the teams that topped their groups in the “European League” and qualified directly to this round.
The teams participating in the lottery as seeded are Real Betis and Real Sociedad of Spain, Braga of Portugal, Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia, Lazio and Napoli of Italy, Olympiacos of Greece and Rangers of Scotland.
As for the unranked teams coming from the Champions League, they are Barcelona, Atalanta of Italy, Dortmund and Leipzig of Germany, Porto of Portugal, Seville of Spain, Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia and Sherif Tiraspol of Moldova.
Also Monday, the draw for the playoffs of the newly created “Conference League” competition will be drawn with the participation of 16 teams, eight of whom were runners-up in their groups and the same from the “European League” after finishing third in their groups.
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