After winning the Club World Cup in Japan, Chelsea were greeted by fans on their triumphant return to London.
From now on, Chelsea fans can say they are world champions!
When captain Terry appeared holding the Club World Cup trophy, the fans outside Stamford Bridge cheered wildly.
Of course, this is just a spontaneous gathering of fans to welcome the trophy, an unofficial act.
After all, it is impossible to arrange a special celebration for a Club World Cup. This is not enough.
However, since the next Premier League game happened to be at home, Chelsea Club prepared a Club World Cup display event at Stamford Bridge on December 23.
Captain Terry led the players, holding the Club World Cup, and paraded around Stamford Bridge, receiving cheers from all the Chelsea fans.
Sky TV also broadcast live the entire Chelsea Champions Trophy walk-around ceremony to congratulate Chelsea on winning the Club World Cup.
Then, in the 17th round of the Premier League, Chelsea played Sunderland at home.
Facing the Black Cat Sunderland, who are fighting for relegation this season, Chelsea did not consume too much in the Club World Cup, and it was not too difficult to win the game.
With goals from Lingard, Moses and Terry, Chelsea defeated their opponents 3-0.
This is also the last game before Christmas.
After this game, Chelsea fans can celebrate Christmas with the joy of winning the Club World Cup and a happy victory!
But for Chelsea players, this Christmas holiday is still quite short.
Christmas Eve on December 24th, Christmas Day on December 25th, and then December 26th, the 18th round of the Premier League against Watford.
Thus began the Devil's Christmas game.
But fortunately, this game against Watford is still at home.
In this way, Chelsea no longer need to travel between cities after returning from Japan, but can always stay in London waiting for opponents to challenge, and avoid more travel fatigue.
Of course, just like last year, there are still many issues that need to be paid attention to during the Christmas period.
Who still thinks about working overtime during the Chinese New Year?
However, with past experience, Pan Yi and the coaching staff also did a good job with the players, allowing the players to maintain a good mental state and competitive state to welcome the Christmas schedule.
Moreover, at Stamford Bridge, with Watford's strength, it is still difficult to pose any threat to Chelsea.
In the end, Chelsea relied on Lukaku's brace to beat Watford 2-0 at home.
Although it's not a big score, in a game like this, getting all three points is the most important thing.
Just look at the performance of several other strong teams.
Manchester United was defeated 2-0 by Stoke City away from home!
Stoke City, which is no longer the "Sky City", relied on the goals of Bojan and Arnautovic to let Manchester United taste the bitter fruit of defeat.
The bigger upset occurred in Southampton's home game against Arsenal.
The Gunners were defeated by four goals!
!
Ward Prowse provided multiple assists, Sean Long scored a hat trick, and center back Font also scored a header.
In another strong dialogue, Liverpool defeated Leicester City 1:0 at home, giving the latter their second defeat this season.
After 18 rounds, Chelsea has 15 wins and 3 draws, and still tops the list with 48 points.
Due to the loss, Leicester City could only rank second with 38 points, ten points behind.
Next are Arsenal with 36 points, Manchester City with 35 points, Tottenham with 32 points, Crystal Palace with 30 points, and Manchester United with 29 points.
It is worth noting that Crystal Palace performed very well in the first half of this season and has actually squeezed into the top six.
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December 27, noon.
In the trapezoidal conference hall of the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, preparations are being made for the draw ceremony for the top 16 of the Champions League.
Although the central air conditioner was turned on, everyone who walked into the conference hall still felt the deep chill, especially the representatives of the top league's wealthy teams.
From the face of everyone who walked into the conference hall, you can read the solemnity in their hearts.
For those teams that have a chance to win the championship, whether they can draw a good lottery means that they can advance more smoothly, and it can also reduce the impact of the Champions League on the domestic competition to a certain extent. .
And even for those weaker teams, they also want to squeeze one step forward as much as possible. After all, every promotion means at least tens of millions of euros in bonuses, as well as considerable broadcast fees and ticket revenue. .
Therefore, no one should be careless about such a draw!
After the representatives of the sixteen teams entered the stadium, they found their seats in the club according to the paper cards on the table. They all looked anxiously at the rows of transparent glass tanks on the stage under the trapezoidal seats.
Wait a minute, the matchups for the Champions League knockout rounds will be decided in the tank.
Nasser, the president of Paris Saint-Germain, also came to the draw today.
He sat there with his brows furrowed and full of thoughts.
As the absolute hegemon of French Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain's dominance is even more stable than Chelsea's in the Premier League.
Ligue 1 has now played 16 rounds, and Paris Saint-Germain has 14 wins and 2 draws, remaining unbeaten.
Chelsea managed to draw three games after all!
Therefore, Nasser is certainly not worried about his team's performance in the league.
Paris Saint-Germain's biggest wish is, of course, to go further in the Champions League!
This is the team’s biggest vision and the biggest goal of Qatar Group’s entry into Paris.
However, now he knows the current situation better than anyone else.
They are second in the group.
It's not that they didn't perform well in the group stage, but they were assigned to Real Madrid in the group.
Although they have won all four games against the other two teams Shakhtar Donetsk and Malmo, one draw and one loss with Real Madrid was enough to be squeezed into second place.
Mainly because Real Madrid's performance was extremely stable, with 5 wins and 1 draw in the end, taking away the first place.
As a result, Paris Saint-Germain's situation is very bad.
Any opponent who can get first place in the group is not easy to mess with.
Real Madrid are in the same group and will not be drawn together, but Chelsea, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Barcelona, and Bayern all feel difficult to play.
Unless they can draw Zenit St. Petersburg, the weakest team in the top spot, they will all face a tough battle.
This is obviously something that no one at Paris Saint-Germain wants to see.
On the contrary, those teams that won the first place in the group stage were obviously easier. At least they had a greater chance of winning an easier opponent.
Eindhoven, Wolfsburg, Benfica, Roma, Gent... Although there are relatively tough opponents such as Juventus, Arsenal, and Paris Saint-Germain, they are always easier to deal with than the seeded teams.
The host of the draw ceremony was UEFA Secretary General, Bald Infantino.
This person who has worked at UEFA for nearly ten years and is responsible for player registration, legal and patent matters is familiar to everyone present.
His eloquence is first-class. It is a piece of cake for him to host such a lottery ceremony. He also introduced the performance of each team in the group stage with humor.
However, this did not ease the tense atmosphere at the scene at all.
During Infantino's introduction, a review video of the group stage was also played on the big screen, introducing each team's qualifying experience, and the most eye-catching one was undoubtedly Pan Yi's Chelsea.
The Premier League leader is the only team to have won all six games in the group stage. It is also a nightmare that all second-placed teams are afraid of. No one is willing to draw them.
Since this season's final was scheduled to be held at Milan's San Siro Stadium (Meazza Stadium), the famous players and former captains of the Milan duo, Maldini and Zanetti, also attended the draw ceremony again.
Infantino first chatted with Maldini and Zanetti.
The two spoke highly of everything Pan Yi did at Chelsea and thought Pan Yi's achievements were incredible.
Maldini said jokingly: "They are the best team in the group stage and the favorite to win the championship. I hope that the team I am drawn to play against will not throw tomatoes at me."
There was a burst of laughter in the venue.
But after those team representatives finished laughing, their expressions quickly returned to their original nervousness.
Everyone knows that if Chelsea is really drawn, there is a high chance that it will be one word: "Send".
For the team that ranks second in the group like Paris Saint-Germain, the first-place team they want to draw is undoubtedly Zenit St. Petersburg from Russia.
Because this is the weakest among the first place players in the group, and it is also the one that gives many second places in the group the best hope of a successful counterattack.
On the other hand, if the top players in the group were asked to choose, most of them would hope to draw Gent from Belgium.
This is obviously the weakest overall team among the top 16 teams.
A large part of the reason why Zenit St. Petersburg and Gent were able to qualify was that they were placed in the same group, and they were fortunate enough to be placed in a less strong group.
Of course, their performance was also quite impressive, and in the end they squeezed out Dynamo Kyiv and Valencia and qualified.
By the way, it was Valencia’s poor performance in the Champions League that led former head coach Nuno to voluntarily announce his resignation, and then gave Gary Neville the opportunity to take over the Bat Corps...
After a while of pleasantries, the drawing ceremony soon began.
The organizer took the lead in placing small balls with the names of the eight second-place teams in the group in the glass jar in front of Zanetti.
The eternal young player of Inter Milan put his hand in, and after some stirring, he quickly selected one of them. After unscrewing it, he called out the first team that was drawn out.
"Ghent!" Zanetti turned over the note in the ball and announced with a smile.
There was an uproar at the venue. Unexpectedly, the first team to be drawn out was Gent. This immediately made the eight first-place teams in the group eager to try.
The live broadcast footage was also specially shown on the faces of the representatives of these eight teams, and everyone's expressions were full of expectation.
Everyone knows that winning Gent almost means qualifying early.
Even the other seven second-placed teams in the group were secretly praying that it would be best for Gent to draw the teams they least want to encounter, especially Chelsea.
God, please take Pan Yi away quickly!
Maldini smiled and reached into one of the glass jars in front of him, took out a small ball, unscrewed it, and took out the note. The whole process happened very quickly, but in the eyes of everyone, it seemed like a long time.
Everyone looked at Maldini with their eyes wide open, watching him gradually turn over the note in his hand.
"Manchester City!"
There was an uproar in the conference hall, and most people were sighing. Only the representatives of Manchester City and Chairman Mubarak were snickering.
This is already the best lottery they can draw.
Sign up, definitely sign up.
Especially for Manchester City, which has been drawn to Barcelona in the past two years, this time it really turned around!
The words Gent vs. Manchester City immediately appeared on the big screen behind Infantino, and then the draw continued.
The next second-place team drawn by Zanetti was Wolfsburg, while the first-place team drawn by Maldini was Manchester United.
The representative of Wolfsburg was head coach Heijing, who came to the scene in person, with a very calm expression on his face.
Although they failed to draw the weakest team Zenit, Manchester United's recent situation is also average and they have been squeezed out of the top six in the Premier League, so this pick is still acceptable.
For Manchester United, Wolfsburg is not a difficult opponent. It is better than Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, right?
So, this is a lottery that everyone is happy with.
When both Wolfsburg and Manchester United breathed a sigh of relief, Zanetti once again took out a small ball from the glass jar, unscrewed it, took out the note, and announced loudly: "Paris Saint-Germain!"
When Nasser heard the name, he immediately tensed up.
It's finally our turn!
Maldini also reached into the glass jar and took out a small ball.
Watching the famous Milan star unscrewing the ball, Nasser closed his eyes nervously and moved his lips slightly.
If you get closer, you can hear him mumbling: "Don't want Chelsea, don't be Chelsea, don't be Chelsea..."
Last season, Paris drew Chelsea.
The results of it?
2:4 at home, 0:3 on the road, not to mention being eliminated by a double play, and a net loss of 5 goals. It can be said that there is no power to fight back.
Therefore, the last thing Nasser wants to encounter now is Chelsea.
Even if we draw Real Madrid or Bayern, that’s fine!
The director of the TV station was obviously very good at catching gimmicks. When he saw Nasser's eyes closed in the numerous shots, he immediately signaled to switch the live camera.
In this way, audiences around the world, including everyone present, saw the nervousness of the Paris Saint-Germain president.
But no one could laugh at all.
To a certain extent, there is no shame in being afraid of Pan Yi.
Looking at the entire European football world, who is not afraid?
In the past few years, Pan Yi has been like a nightmare for all professional teams. No matter which team he leads, whichever team can win the championship.
Whether it's a relatively civilian team like Hamburg or a wealthy club like Chelsea.
Especially Pan Yi's Chelsea is simply impeccable, causing headaches for all teams around the world.
Perhaps there are many players and many coaches who are looking forward to playing against Pan Yi and are proud of defeating Pan Yi or even drawing with Pan Yi, but Nasser doesn't want to.
He just wants his team to go further in the Champions League.
It would have been better if Chelsea had been accidentally beaten by another team while PSG was on the march.
In this way, Paris even really hopes to win the Champions League and realize their long-cherished wish for many years!
"Don't be like Manchester City who were drawn against Barcelona two years in a row..." Nasser prayed, "They have all lucked out this year, and we have to..."
But what Nasser did not expect was that matter is conserved, and so is luck.
Now that Manchester City has transferred, won't the bad luck be transferred to...
At this time, on the drawing table, the handsome Maldini had ruthlessly unscrewed the ball and took out a piece of paper. The expression on his face was obviously stunned, and his eyes couldn't help but glance at Nasser.
Then, he shouted loudly: "Chelsea."
Chelsea!
The whole audience suddenly exclaimed.
After hearing the name, Nasser jumped up from his seat.
On the stage close in front of him, Maldini turned over the note, and it was indeed Chelsea printed on it.
Nasser sat back feebly and shook his head.
This is definitely a lottery.
To be so unlucky to meet Chelsea again in the Champions League round of 16, Nasser was completely speechless.
How could it be such a coincidence? So unlucky?
He didn't even pay attention to the remaining draws, he was totally absent-minded.
The second group members sitting next to him had obviously relaxed expressions on their faces...
Soon, the remaining groups of opponents were also drawn out.
Benfica vs Zenit St Petersburg.
Roma vs Real Madrid.
Juventus vs Bayern Munich.
PSV vs Atletico Madrid.
Arsenal vs Barcelona…
Well, it seems that a bit of bad luck has also spread to Arsenal.
At this time, the theme song of the Champions League also sounded at the right time:
"Kick Barcelona, kick Barcelona, kick Bayern Munich, our factory has collapsed~~"
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As soon as the draw results for the knockout rounds of the Champions League round of 16 were released, it immediately aroused huge repercussions around the world.
Both the media and fans are talking about this and are also analyzing who can enter the quarterfinals.
The first is a relatively close contest, Benfica vs Zenit St. Petersburg. These two relatively weak teams are divided together, and whoever can advance is likely to advance.
The other is Wolfsburg vs. Manchester United. Public opinion generally believes that Manchester United may have the advantage in terms of strength, but their recent state is worrying. Wolfsburg has a chance to defeat Manchester United.
In several other duels, the "two-horse battle" between Roma and Real Madrid, everyone felt that Roma was unable to upset Real Madrid.
In the same way, there are Gent vs. Manchester City, Juventus vs. Bayern Munich, PSV vs. Atletico Madrid, and Arsenal vs. Barcelona. Most of them are optimistic that the first place in the group will win.
Although Juventus vs Bayern Munich and Arsenal vs Barcelona are all duels between giants, there is no doubt that Bayern and Barcelona will be even better.
And the last game between the giants is Paris Saint-Germain versus Chelsea.
Although this season spent 63 million euros to buy the Argentinian Angel Di Maria from Manchester United, and although this is a duel between the undefeated number one in Ligue 1 and the unbeaten number one in the Premier League, no one seems to be optimistic that Paris Saint-Germain will have the opportunity to overthrow Chelsea.
There is one data that best reflects the outside world's concerns about the prospects of Paris Saint-Germain, and that is the odds of bookmakers.
Before the draw results came out, Paris Saint-Germain's odds of winning the Champions League ranked sixth among the sixteen teams, second only to Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern, and Real Madrid.
This is enough to prove that the outside world is still very optimistic about Paris Saint-Germain, and the odds of winning the championship are 1 to 16.
But after the draw results came out, it was discovered that they had met Chelsea, and Paris Saint-Germain's odds of winning the championship suddenly plummeted to 50 to 1!
This is almost on the same level as Wolfsburg...
This shows that neither betting companies nor fans are optimistic that Paris Saint-Germain can advance.
Although this odds does not mean anything, after all, everything is possible on the football field. Manchester City often has the first odds, are they often eliminated?
But this is indeed a blow to the confidence of Paris Saint-Germain.
The shadow of last season's disastrous defeat is still in my mind!
Having faced Chelsea for two consecutive years, who could be worse off than me?
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As usual, after the draw results came out, as the team's head coach, Pan Yi also accepted interviews with media reporters.
Pan Yi said humbly that the draw to Paris Saint-Germain was a lottery.
"We all know that Paris Saint-Germain is one of the strongest teams in the top 16, and no one wants to encounter such an opponent early."
"A team with Yin Bu, Thiago Silva, Cavani and Di Maria can theoretically play perfect football on the pitch."
But Pan Yi immediately changed the subject and said that the whole team was confident of defeating Paris Saint-Germain and advancing to the quarterfinals.
"We played against them last season and we knocked them out."
"Their team has not changed much, and the head coach is still Blanco, so I also believe that the result of the game will not change much."
Pan Yi also said that Chelsea has an advantage in the schedule because as the first team in the group, they can play away before home.
"I'm looking forward to going to the Parc des Princes in Paris in February and having another exciting game with them!" Pan Yi said with a confident smile.
Everyone at Chelsea has expressed the same attitude. The players basically respect Paris Saint-Germain, but believe that the team can advance.
Captain Terry said even more domineeringly:
"We at Chelsea are now the strongest team in European football and we are not afraid of any opponents."
"We have already won the Club World Cup, so our next goal is to defend the Champions League! We have such strength!"
“It should be our opponents who are scared. Because right now, no team wants to play against us!…”
Although there is still one and a half months until the official start of the game, the game between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea has absolute popularity and has been highly hyped!
