PS: This is the first update today, and the 50,000-yuan recommended update will be posted later.

On the evening of August 31, after arranging the players' rest, Zhuang Mingge and Capello rushed to the scene of the Champions League group draw ceremony.

"Isn't this Coach Ferguson? I'm very happy to see you here." As soon as I walked into the venue, Zhuang Mingge saw an old Scottish man with a red nose, and immediately walked up to chat with the other party.

There is no way to do this. Although Serie A won three places this time due to the defending champion Fiorentina, the teams that won the league runner-up and third place were AC Milan and Juventus. The representative of the Ross and Blacks came to participate in the lottery ceremony this time was Saki, who had a "deep hatred" with Fiorentina. His general manager Galliani was not able to attend for some reason, so Zhuang Mingge naturally would not run over to touch Saki's bad luck.

Not to mention Juventus, the Zebras itself has a bad relationship with Fiorentina, and Lippi is in a state of unstable coaching position because of losing to Fiorentina several times and three times. Naturally, he will not have any good face to Fiorentina.

The two representatives of the La Liga are Atletico Madrid president Jesus Hill and Valencia head coach Luis Aragones (the head coach nicknamed "Zhisou" and later led the Spanish national team to win the European Cup championship). Zhuang Mingge has no friendship with these two, and the two are also quite famous for their tough personalities. Zhuang Mingge doesn't think he will get any benefits when he goes up. If he doesn't touch his nose, he will burn the incense.

The two representatives from the Bundesliga are Heathfield of Dortmund and Trapatoni of Bayern Munich. Zhuang Mingge wants to talk to them, especially his compatriot Trapatoni. However, the former was discussing with Newcastle United's head coach "Mickey Mouse" Kevin Keegan when Zhuang Mingge arrived (because Keegan played in the Bundesliga when he was a player), and the latter had not arrived at the venue yet, so Ferguson became the only few people Zhuang Mingge can talk to.

"Chairman Corleon, I really envy Fiorentina's current player configuration." Although Ferguson at this time made him famous in European football with his outstanding performance in the Premier League, the title of Florence's triple-champion is obviously much louder than that of Manchester United, who won three Premier League championships.

Ferguson is telling the truth. Although Manchester United now has some of the shadows of the "Red Devils" under Busby back then, their player configuration is still far inferior to those of Fiorentina's level.

Not to mention anything else, just talking about the current forward configuration of the two companies, does anyone think that the combination of Andy Cole, Cantona and Solskjaer is more deterrent than the configurations of Bati, Vieri, Ronaldo and Inzaghi?

Of course, if there are friends who think Manchester United's forward line is better, I have nothing to say, so please save the differences.

"Haha, Coach Ferguson, you've been awarded." Zhuang Mingge was full of respect for this old Scotsman who has devoted almost all his coaching career to Manchester United. "I believe that under your leadership, Manchester United will sooner or later grow into an amazing wealthy family."

"Haha, then I'll give you a good word, Chairman Corleon." Ferguson, who is not a time traveler, certainly didn't know what Zhuang Mingge was saying, and he thought the other party was just being polite.

During the period when Zhuang Mingge and Ferguson were talking, the remaining club representatives also came to the venue one after another. Twenty-four club representatives participating in the Champions League were gathered together, which means that the group draw ceremony for the 1996-97 Champions League season officially began!

Due to the expansion of the Champions League, the teams entering the Champions League main match have increased from the previous 16 to 24. Therefore, the Champions League group stage this time is very different from the past. According to the UEFA charter, there are a total of six groups in the Champions League group stage, among which the top spot in each group and the second in the two best-scoring groups can directly get a place to advance to the rematch, which means that the Champions League group stage will be more intense this season.

After all, in the past, you could ensure your qualifying by getting the top two in the group, but now no one hopes to get the second in the group after fighting hard and getting the second in the group, and unexpectedly finds that because the points are not as high as other teams, their side loses the opportunity to advance.

Unlike last season, Zhuang Mingge was quite inconspicuous during the entire grouping ceremony last year. After all, at that time, Fiorentina did not have the confidence to compete with a European team. This time, Fiorentina, which won the triple-winning championship, has become a remarkable existence in the entire venue. Countless cameras were aimed at Zhuang Mingge and Capello. Even before the lottery ceremony began, UEFA specially arranged for him to go on stage to deliver a speech.

However, Zhuang Mingge would not really make any long-term comments. He knew that this was a face that UEFA gave him. If he really didn't know what to do, it would only arouse others' disgust.

So, after a few simple words on the stage, Zhuang Mingge walked off the podium and returned to his seat, waiting for the start of the lottery ceremony.

On his way back to his position, club representatives kept greeting him warmly, and he completely lost the feeling of being unfamiliar at this time last year.

This is often the case in this world. When you have impressive strength, all honors and praise will follow.

However, Florence's current scenery naturally has to pay a certain price for it.

Zhuang Mingge is also aware of this. Although he and Johnson have had a good personal relationship because of some previous events, this does not mean that Fiorentina will be smooth in the future European competitions. After all, UEFA does not want a team that has long held the Champions League title, because this is likely to cause the attractiveness of the Champions League event to fans to decline, which is a phenomenon that UEFA does not want to see.

This time, the Champions League grouping has not yet adopted the form of drawing lots based on the European War points in the past five years. However, under the secret promotion of Zhuang Mingge, Johnson also began to make certain reforms to the grouping method, which has made this grouping some shadows from later generations.

Before the draw ceremony began, UEFA announced six seed teams, namely the champion teams of the four major leagues and the Ligue 1 champion Monaco, and Dutch overlord Ajax. These six teams will be divided into six different groups as the first seed teams.

However, UEFA then announced that the other six teams were also distributed equally among each group, in order to ensure the excitement of the Champions League. In fact, everyone present knew that this was just a set of insurance measures that UEFA had developed to ensure that most strong teams would not be eliminated prematurely in the group stage.
Chapter completed!