i am a football star

Chapter 53 Europa League Draw

Soon the results of the draw came out. Bordeaux’s opponents in the quarter-finals were Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Super League, and Bayern Munich and Getafe were one and a half away from Bordeaux. That is to say, the winner of Bordeaux and Zenit St. Petersburg will face the winner of Bayern Munich and Getafe in the semi-finals.The other half is PSV vs Fiorentina and Sporting Lisbon vs Rangers.

Such a result made the old Jacques a bit unsure whether to be happy or sad. The opponent in the quarter-finals was the Russian team Zenit St. Petersburg.

Liu Ting was thinking beside him, how unlucky is the signing of Bordeaux?Is Zenit St. Petersburg easy to deal with?In Liu Ting’s memory, this year’s Europa League champion is Zenit St. Petersburg. The Russian team even slaughtered Bayern 4-0 at home in the semi-finals, which shocked Europe at the time. Now that Zenit has been drawn in the quarter-finals, even if Zenit has passed the semi-finals, they still have to meet Bayern. There are various reasons why Zenit can kill Bayern, and Bordeaux may not be able to pass.It would be great if it was drawn to the other half, where the team is much weaker.

When Blanc came back from Nyon, he saw several newspapers on his desk. The first one was "Bordeaux Sports" "Bordeaux is the pride of French football". Blanco just glanced at it and threw it aside. Others were also touting Bordeaux. Blanco even saw that Lyon's newspapers were helping Bordeaux tout.

Blanco read the newspaper and knew it was given to him by assistant coach Gasset. Gasset always likes to find some newspapers related to the team for him to read.

"Jean, what do you think of our lottery result?" Blanco asked assistant coach Gasset.

"I think..." Gasset started to speak when a knock on the door interrupted him.

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After reading the lottery results, Liu Ting planned to talk to head coach Blanco.

Entering the head coach's room, I saw that assistant coach Gasset was also there.

"Liu, what's the matter with you?" Gasset asked first.

"Coach, I want to share my opinion on the result of the lottery."

Blanco didn't expect that Liu Ting would take the initiative to talk to him about this, so he said, "Tell me what you think."

Liu Ting said: "I don't think our pick is good. Even the current top eight opponents are not easy to deal with. I know that after the results of the Europa League quarter finals came out, Zenit St. Petersburg only ranked second to last in the rankings given by the mass media. Everyone thinks that the Russian team is not strong. They just rely on home court advantage to advance round after round. But we can't underestimate this opponent. Their head star Andrei Arshavin is actually very strong. He can fully play the strength of the giants."

In the UEFA Europa League rankings given by the mass media, Bayern is unsurprisingly ranked first, followed by Fiorentina, Bordeaux ranked third, and Zenit St. Petersburg ranked seventh only higher than the Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon. Qiang also lost 32:1 away to Ligue 0 Marseille, returned home to beat Marseille 1:2 and still relied on away goals to advance to the thrilling promotion. Even in the group match, Zenit was the third in the group and barely advanced to the knockout round.

But no one thought that this team would beat Bayern 4-0 at home after reaching the semi-finals. Of course, now that Liu Ting has qualified, I don't know if Zenit still has such a chance.

Blanco said: "According to what you mean, we may not be able to pass the Zenit test, so why don't we just give up in advance and concentrate on the domestic league?"

Liu Ting immediately said: "Of course not. What I mean is that we still have to fight on two fronts, but Zenit cannot be underestimated, especially going to Russia in an away game. It is absolutely difficult to play there. It is icy and snowy there. We must win enough in the first round and be careful when we go away. Otherwise, Marseille will be a lesson for us. Winning 3:1 at home is already a great advantage. In the away game, we will be overturned if we are not careful."

"Well, I see what you mean."

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On the second day of the draw, there was indeed a lot of analysis about the prospects of Bordeaux Europa League. Most of them believed that it would not be difficult for Bordeaux to advance to the semi-finals, mainly because it was difficult for Bayern after the semi-finals. Some even said that Bordeaux should give up the Europa League.Anyway, the possibility of Bordeaux winning the championship is very small. It is the right way to give up and concentrate on playing the league to ensure the championship.Some media are advocating that Bordeaux will continue to forge ahead and help Ligue [-] win points in the UEFA Champions League. At present, although the bonuses for each promotion round in the Europa League are small, the points obtained in the UEFA Champions League are no less than those in the UEFA Champions League.

No matter what anyone says, the game has to go on.

On March 3th, Bordeaux played against Strasbourg at home.Bordeaux's promotion to the quarter-finals of the Europa League was reported by the media. Regardless of whether it had ulterior motives or not, the fans were very happy. When the Bordeaux team played, they got huge cheers.

In the first half of the season, Strasbourg hovered around the European front for a long time, that is, the 6th and 7th positions. Now they have a bad record and dropped to 15th. They might be relegated.

"Strasburg is no longer as amazing as it was at the beginning of the season. He was originally the best performer among the three newly promoted horses, but now he doesn't know if he can succeed in relegation."

"Let's take a look at the ball. Bordeaux's attack advanced to the frontcourt. Diarra passed the ball to Kavinagi. Kavinagi crossed Liu. Liu nimbly dunked Paisley and shot!!! It was saved!! Strasbourg goalkeeper Kassad saved the shot from the bottom line, and Bordeaux won a corner kick."

"Micoud took a corner kick, Henrik!! Gooooal!!! Henrik beat Santos and scored with a header!! This goal is not surprising at all, Bordeaux is in great shape, Strasbourg can't stop it at all."

In the 25th minute, Henrik took advantage of an opportunity to score with a header, Bordeaux 1-0 Strasbourg.

"This is Bordeaux's chance to counterattack. Liu Ting dribbled the ball in the middle and advanced quickly, a beautiful pass!! Berlion caught the ball and entered the penalty area and hit the goal vigorously!!! Goooooal!!! Berlion's goal, Bordeaux expanded the score! Liu dribbled the ball with his back and passed diagonally to the follow-up Berlion. Strasbourg's defense was attracted by Liu, and Berlion got a good chance to score calmly."

In the 39th minute, Liu Ting assisted Berlion to score, Bordeaux 2-0 Strasbourg.

The score in the first half was maintained at 2:0. In the second half, Bordeaux slowed down and Blanco began to prepare for substitutions.

In the 70th minute, veteran Micoud was replaced by Fernando.

In the 81st minute, Liu Ting was replaced by Cha Mark.

In the 85th minute, Cavinaghi used his personal ability to break through, passing Strasbourg's Rodrigo and Szeles in a row and hitting the ball into the lower left corner of the goal, locking the score at 3:0.

波尔多3:0击败了斯特拉斯堡，里昂则是客场同样3:0击败了摩纳哥，波尔多继续保持对里昂的1分领先优势。

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Three days after Strasbourg, there was another match in Bordeaux, but Liu Ting did not need to play. This was the knockout round of the French Cup.Blanco's two-line battle is already the limit. He will never agree to a third-line battle. Bordeaux really can't afford the third-line battle. As far as Bordeaux's lineup is concerned, two-line battles are trembling, and the third-line battle is destined to be a tragedy.

Bordeaux, who played as a substitute, and Lille, who are also in Ligue 3, could not do anything to each other. They could only exchange blank tickets for the final penalty kick. Bordeaux lost the game 4:[-].Blanco, who lost the game, was relieved. If Bordeaux continues to advance, it will be the quarter-finals of the French Cup. If the quarter-finals are lucky enough to reach the semi-finals, they can't just give up. At that time, there are only two games to win a championship. If they give up, they will definitely be criticized. Blanco doesn't want to fight on the third line at all. He thinks he will be very satisfied if he can win a championship in the first year of his coaching career.

No one blamed Bordeaux for losing this game. After all, Bordeaux is still participating in the Europa League.

The good news for Bordeaux is that Lyon is still in the French Cup. Now there are three Ligue [-] teams in the French Cup quarter-finals. The two strongest teams are Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. Lyon is likely to reach the French Cup final and win the championship.

(End of this chapter)