Chapter 1 The Eight Strongest Teams

After all the Champions League Round of 16 matches concluded, the eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals were determined.

They were Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund from Germany, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atlético Madrid from Spain, Juventus from Italy, Galatasaray from Turkey, and Porto from Portugal.

Two Bundesliga teams, three La Liga teams, and one team each from Serie A, Süper Lig, and Primeira Liga.

The Premier League was completely eliminated.

Just a few years ago, the Premier League was the dominant force in the Champions League, having created a record of three Premier League teams reaching the semi-finals for three consecutive years.

Some even joked that the Champions League had become the English FA Cup.

Later, with Platini's rise to power and his efforts to curb the Premier League, the momentum of the Premier League gradually weakened.

This season, only two Premier League teams, Arsenal and Manchester United, made it to the Round of 16.

Manchester United faced Real Madrid in the Round of 16, which was also a point of media hype in Spain and England. Cristiano Ronaldo, after leaving Manchester United, finally encountered his former club in the Champions League.

Both Manchester United and Real Madrid held special significance for him. Manchester United made him who he was, transforming him from a promising star into a world superstar. Ferguson was like a father to him, providing great assistance to Cristiano Ronaldo. Therefore, the Manchester United club held extraordinary significance in the Portuguese player's heart.

At the same time, Real Madrid was the team that Cristiano Ronaldo dreamed of playing for. During his time at Manchester United, he had stated more than once that he wanted to join Real Madrid because it was his dream and the team his mother wanted him to join.

Currently, in terms of team honors, he wasn't as successful at Real Madrid as he was at Manchester United. However, in terms of personal influence, joining Real Madrid truly transformed Cristiano Ronaldo into a world-class player, comparable to Messi.

In the home game against Manchester United, Real Madrid and Manchester United drew 1-1, a result that favored Manchester United. However, the focus was all on Cristiano Ronaldo, as the Portuguese player scored a beautiful header. When he jumped, his feet reached Evra's waist. With Evra as a backdrop, Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to be flying in the air. This goal became a hot topic after the match.

Everyone discussed Cristiano Ronaldo's outstanding jumping ability and his incredible hang time.

It seemed that no one cared whether Manchester United could eliminate Real Madrid when they returned to their home ground.

In the second leg, Manchester United lost 1-2 to Real Madrid at home. All three goals were scored by Real Madrid players: Ramos scored an own goal, giving Manchester United the lead. Then, Modrić equalized the score, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal.

After scoring, he didn't celebrate and even made an apologetic gesture.

This stemmed from his feelings for Manchester United, and his gesture was supported by Manchester United fans.

Although Manchester United was eliminated, the match itself didn't have much animosity, and both sides were quite friendly. Real Madrid and Manchester United also had many collaborations in the past, and the official relationship between the clubs was quite good.

The other Premier League representative, Arsenal, was eliminated by Bayern Munich. They lost 1-3 to Bayern Munich in the first leg at home, foreshadowing their defeat. Although they performed very well in the second leg, defeating Bayern Munich 2-0 away, they were still eliminated due to fewer away goals.

Thus, there were no Premier League teams in the Champions League.

The other two Premier League teams were eliminated in the group stage. The most disappointing performance was from Manchester City. As the Premier League champions of the previous season, they were placed in the group of death and ended up ranking last. Chelsea had the same number of points as Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage, both with ten points. Their head-to-head record was also the same, with one win and one loss each. The total score in their head-to-head matches was also 4-4. Comparing away goals in their head-to-head matches, Shakhtar defeated Chelsea with two away goals to Chelsea's one, ultimately edging out Chelsea and securing second place in the group, while Chelsea could only reluctantly play in the Europa League.

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The dominance of the Premier League was gone, and La Liga became increasingly strong, achieving great results in European competitions. In the UEFA coefficient ranking, the Premier League once held the top spot from the 2007-2008 season thanks to their monopolistic performance in the Champions League, but now their lead was getting smaller and smaller, and La Liga supporters already believed that La Liga was the best league in Europe.

Premier League supporters were certainly not convinced, because the competition in the Premier League was more intense. La Liga, on the other hand, had been dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona for many years. How could such a league be better than the Premier League?

But regardless of whether Premier League supporters admitted it or not, the glorious days of the Premier League on the Champions League stage were over.

This season, three La Liga teams made it to the Champions League quarter-finals, which was quite aggressive.

After all the Champions League quarter-final teams were determined, UEFA conducted the draw for the quarter-finals, and this draw would also determine the semi-final matchups.

This draw was very important, as it could somewhat predict the future path of the big clubs.

There were no longer any weak teams recognized among the quarter-finalists, but there were still differences in strength.

Moreover, the quarter-final matches would no longer avoid teams from the same country, nor would there be restrictions such as group winners only facing group runners-up, making it easier for strong teams to face each other.

Therefore, no one wanted to meet the strongest teams early, and everyone wanted to face relatively weaker teams.

For example, Galatasaray and Porto were teams that everyone hoped to encounter.

At the same time, there were also two Chinese players in the quarter-finals, and their fate also affected the hearts of domestic media and fans.

Therefore, even though the quarter-final draw was held in the early hours of Beijing time, a large number of fans still stayed up to watch the live broadcast of the draw on TV or computers.

Unlike the group stage draw, which required awards to be presented, the quarter-final draw was conducted quickly, without any other gimmicks, let alone any artistic performances.

Anyway, at this time, everyone didn't care about any artistic performances and just wanted to know the results quickly.

So the draw ended in half an hour.

The final result was that Bayern Munich and Juventus would meet in the quarter-finals, with Bayern Munich playing at home first and then away.

Barcelona once again drew a good opponent, as they were paired with Porto, and they would play away first and then at home, which was more advantageous in terms of the schedule.

The other La Liga team, Real Madrid, also drew a good opponent, as they would face Galatasaray. Both of the Spanish powerhouses had drawn good opponents, and there was basically no doubt that they would advance to the semi-finals.

The winner between Barcelona and Porto would meet the winner between Bayern Munich and Juventus in the semi-finals.

And the winner between Real Madrid and Galatasaray would meet… the winner between Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals.

Yes, this time, the Chinese derby in the Champions League would continue. Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid were drawn as opponents, with Atlético Madrid playing at home first and then away.

The teams of the two Chinese players were once again drawn together.

This time, Chinese fans were a little unhappy – they had hoped that Sun Pan and Zhou Yi could meet in the semi-finals or even the final, but they didn't expect the two teams to meet in the quarter-finals.

Whether Sun Pan or Zhou Yi was eliminated, everyone would feel very sorry.

It was hard to say who they hoped would win.

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While the draw was taking place, Zhou Yi and his teammates were also watching the live broadcast and discussing it in their group chat.

When Barcelona was drawn against Porto and Real Madrid was drawn against Galatasaray, Sun Pan shouted that there was a conspiracy and that UEFA was trying to guarantee that the two Spanish powerhouses would advance to the semi-finals.

As a dual Chelsea and Atlético Madrid player, Sun Pan had a hundred reasons to dislike Barcelona and Real Madrid, and his conspiracy theory was in line with his position.

And when Borussia Dortmund and Atlético Madrid were drawn together, Sun Pan typed a sentence: "Damn it!"

Yang Mu Ge: "..."

Guo Nu: "Pfft!"

He Ying: "This is really..."

Zhou Yi: "Panpan, what are you 'damn it'-ing about? Are you so afraid of meeting me?"

Sun Pan: "Get lost! I was hoping you could go further, but now it's impossible!"

"Hehe, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. It's hard to say who won't be able to go further!" Zhou Yi retorted.

"It's starting, it's starting!" Guo Nu was also very excited. "The match hasn't even started, and the war of words between the two sides has already begun!"

"Don't worry, Zhou Yi, I will definitely not let you score a goal in the match!" Sun Pan said.

"Idiot, I'm a midfielder, scoring goals isn't my responsibility anyway!"

"Then I won't let you guys score a single goal!"

"Are you saying that we can score two goals or three goals?"

"..."

"Haha!" He Ying, who had been eliminated by Sun Pan, couldn't help but laugh when he saw Sun Pan being choked speechless by Zhou Yi.

Guo Nu, not wanting to miss out on the fun, shouted, "Damn, I'm not one to stir things up, Sun Pan. But if I were you, I definitely wouldn't be able to stand that!"

However, Sun Pan didn't say anything, and Zhou Yi didn't continue to press his advantage, which made the remaining three people very puzzled.

"Damn, Sun Pan really held back?" Guo Nu was very surprised.

"Zhou Yi didn't continue to press his advantage either?" Yang Mu Ge couldn't figure it out either.

After a while, after no one had spoken in the group chat, Sun Pan suddenly jumped up and said, "Damn it, Zhou Yi, you just wait, when the match comes, I'll let you know that every word I said wasn't a joke!"

"Sun Pan, did you drop offline?" Guo Nu asked.

"No, I just received a few phone calls, all from Chinese reporters wanting to interview me," Sun Pan replied.

"Oh, what a coincidence, I also received quite a few," Zhou Yi also chimed in.

Everyone then realized that the reason the two of them had been silent before was because they had gone to be interviewed...

Thinking about it, it was normal. The meeting of these two people was definitely big news for Chinese fans and media, and reporters would definitely want to interview them about their feelings.

"Then what did you guys say?" Yang Mu Ge asked curiously.

"Of course, I just repeated what I said to Zhou Yi earlier."

"What a coincidence? Me too!"

"..." Yang Mu Ge was speechless.