After the game against Stuttgart, the whole team returned to Dortmund. Then all the international players in the team with national team tasks left the team one after another, and Zhou Yi was no exception. He boarded a flight back to China and rushed back to participate in two warm-up matches, with opponents being Iran and Paraguay.

Also leaving Dortmund are the club's head coach Klopp and general manager Zorke, who are going to participate in the Champions League group draw ceremony.

This has special significance for the team Dortmund.

The last time they appeared in the Champions League was in the 2003-2004 season, but that was a qualifying match. They finished third in the Bundesliga in the 2002-2003 season and qualified for the next season's UEFA Champions League qualifying match. However, Dortmund made his debut in the third round of the qualifying match, and tied 3:3 with Bruges in a two-round home and away game. The two teams also scored the same away goals, both of them.

Both sides could only have a penalty shootout. In the end, Dortmund lost 2:4 and was eliminated, and did not even participate in the Champions League main match.

The last time Dortmund participated in the Champions League was in the 2002-2003 season, because last season, they won the Bundesliga championship and could enter the main competition directly without having to play in the qualifying round.

The UEFA Champions League system that season was different from the ones that everyone knows now. There were two group stages. Thirty-two teams entering the main competition were divided into eight groups, with the top two in each group qualifying to determine the top 16.

The top 16 teams do not directly play a two-round knockout match, but divide them into four groups to participate in the second round of group matches. The chapter on the 16th is uploaded.

The top two in each group enter the final knockout stage.

Dortmund was divided into a group with Arsenal, Ausserl and Eindhoven in the first round of the group stage. In the group stage, Dortmund won three wins, one draw and two losses in six games, and finally won the second place in the group and qualified from the group with Arsenal.

In the second round of group stage, Dortmund, Ac Milan, Real Madrid and Moscow Locomotive were divided into Group C, which can be regarded as the Death Group. At that time, Real Madrid was the defending champion of the Champions League, while Ac Milan was the champion of the Champions League this season.

Dortmund is only better than Locomotive Moscow in this group, with three wins, one draw and two losses in six games, ranking third and was eliminated.

This is the last time Dortmund participated in the Champions League.

Since then, due to the deterioration of fiscal conditions, Dortmund's strength has plummeted, and its ranking in the German domestic league has been declining year by year. He is no longer qualified to participate in the Champions League.

After seven seasons, Dortmund returned to the Champions League.

What will be the strong enemies waiting for them?

Everything will be revealed in the Champions League draw.

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After Zhou Yi arrived in China, the Champions League draw ceremony was also held in Monaco.

The Champions League group draw must first determine four levels of teams, and divide the thirty-two teams into different levels according to their European points.

The eight teams with the highest points are seed teams and the first-class teams.

Dortmund has not participated in the Champions League for seven years, and has only participated in the 2008-2009 season, and was eliminated by Udinese in the first round.

So the European War points are pitifully small and there are almost no.

They were taken for granted to the fourth-level team.

In this way, they are very likely to be assigned to a group of powerful enemies.

In fact, Dortmund's luck this time is indeed not good...

As the fourth-level team, they were assigned to Group A, and the seed team in Group A is the defending champion Inter Milan, the second-level team is the Spanish powerhouse Valencia, and the third-level team is the Dutch Eredivisie champion Twente last season.

Although the degree of death is not as good as the G group with Ac Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax and Ausselle, it is still very difficult for Dortmund to qualify in the group.

Barcelona was divided into a group with Copenhagen, Panasinaikos and Kazan Rubin, which basically means being led to the quarterfinals. This grouping seems to have given many people the topic of "Barcelona has a godfather's cover at UEFA."

As soon as the lottery results came out, the German media took the lead in reporting.

Three Bundesliga teams have participated in the main match this season, namely last season's champion Bayern Munich, runner-up Dortmund and third-place Schalke 04.

These three teams represent the face of German football and also shoulder an extremely important mission - their performance in the Champions League will affect the number of places to participate in the Champions League each season after the Bundesliga team.

As the runner-up of the Champions League last season, Bayern Munich also drew a good draw. They were divided into Group E with Rome, Basel and Cruges. If nothing unexpected happens in this group, basically Bayern Munich and Rome are qualifying together, and Bayern Munich is definitely the first in the group.

Schalke's performance in the league in 2004-2005 Bundesliga runner-up, fourth in the 2005-2006 league, second in the 2006-2007 season, third in the 2007-2008 season. They can participate in European games almost every year, and their experience in this area is more than Dortmund.

In this season's Champions League, they were divided into Group B with the seed teams Lyon, Benfica and Tottenham Hotspur. Media analysis believes that the teams qualifying in this group should be Lyon and Schalke 04. Benfica is not strong, and Tottenham Hotspur has returned to the Champions League after decades, with zero experience, and it is impossible to cause any storm.

Dortmund's situation is not very good. He hasn't participated in the Champions League for many years and has been separated from the defending champion. There are strong opponents like Valencia in the same group. It is not easy to grab a qualifying place, and it even requires some luck.

Bundesliga media analysts believe that the whole Dortmund team should adjust their mentality. After seven seasons, it should focus on accumulating experience. Klopp's team is still young, and young people should try their best to learn as much as possible in the Champions League this season. Their focus should still be in the domestic league and ensure that they can still participate in the Champions League next season.

Only when this team matures can we achieve better results in the Champions League, which is worthy of everyone's expectations for them.

This year's Bundesliga honors will still be maintained by Bayern Munich.

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In addition to the German media, Chinese media and fans are also very concerned about the Champions League draw, which is of course a consistent concern, because the Champions League is a highly concerned event in China, no less than the World Cup.

Every season, the Champions League group draws will be reported by major domestic media and fans will pay attention.

But this season, everyone's focus is different because of Zhou Yi.

In the past, everyone would pay more attention to the grouping of those giant teams, such as whether Real Madrid will be separated from their enemies Lyon this time, and whether Barcelona will be taken care of by their godfather again...

Nowadays, what everyone is most concerned about is the results of Dortmund's group draw.

After the result came out, the reactions of Chinese media and fans and German media were similar. They felt that the grouping result was not very beneficial to Dortmund, and it was definitely not a "goal signing". If you hold it to death, you would be considered a winning sign.

Some Chinese media went to the national team's training ground to interview Zhou Yi, and they asked not about the national team's questions, but about the Champions League grouping.

"...I didn't watch the live broadcast. It was too late. I wanted to make the jet lag and didn't watch it. But I know the result." Zhou Yi was standing by the training ground, facing a large group of reporters, and his expression and tone were calm. "What do you want me to evaluate?" he asked.

"Do you think this is a bad result? Or it's not as good as you imagine..." asked the reporter.

Zhou Yi shook his head: "No, I never thought about who we would be with." He couldn't help laughing at this point, "What qualifications do the fourth-level team have to be picky?"

He said this and made the reporters amuse themselves.

Because Zhou Yi is indeed right. The fourth-level teams are often the teams that are drawn in the end, and the strength of the first three teams is basically stronger than theirs, so it is even harder to play when you draw.

"And I think we must take it seriously regardless of the strength of the opponent, so we are not bad at all. If we think that the opponent is weak and the game is easy to play, we may lose miserably. After all, this is the Champions League." Zhou Yi, who has been struggling in Europe for two years, can already be calm when facing reporters, just like the confidence he showed.

"So what are your personal expectations for the team in the Champions League?"

"First of all, of course, it's time for the group to qualify." Zhou Yi replied.

"How sure are you?" The person who asked such a question must be a novice reporter, or the question was blurted out without thinking.

Facing such a stupid question, Zhou Yi laughed: "I said 100%, you don't believe it, right?"

Everyone laughed, and the slightly awkward atmosphere was resolved.

Then Zhou Yi became serious and said, "If you do your best, I will not decide next. Let's do your own thing first. Let's talk about it. Well, that's it."

There is no adverbial tone of that kind, it is very plain, as if it is talking about something very ordinary.

However, these Chinese journalists who have gradually become familiar with Zhou Yi can feel the power of this young man in their plain tone.
Chapter completed!