Chapter 429: New Season Champions League Group Stage Draw; Manchester United Begins in September

The front page of the Manchester Evening News featured bold headlines: "Hat-trick! Tom's perfect performance with two goals from open play and one penalty in the starting lineup shut out Tottenham; has Manchester United officially entered the title race for the new Premier League season?"

Just as fans had anticipated, the match against Tottenham would be the first time Manchester United bared their claws in the new season.

A 3-0 scoreline was nearly perfect for this match, and the new signing De Jong also delivered an excellent performance.

At this moment, the Betway website released their data.

After the first round of league matches, Manchester United ranked third with championship odds of 6.5 to 1, but after the match against Tottenham, these odds surged directly to 2.87 to 1, second only to Mancheng at 2.5 to 1.

Therefore, some fans said that one match with Tang Ye in the starting lineup halved Manchester United's championship odds.

It sounded somewhat exaggerated, but in fact, it seemed to be exactly so.

Besides the league, Manchester United also had a Champions League campaign this season.

According to the China Football News: "The draw for the 2018-19 Champions League group stage will be held in Monaco at 00:00 Beijing Time on August 31, with Manchester United placed in Pot 2."

In addition to Manchester United's pot placement, the China Football News also provided the list of teams in Pot 1, aiming to help fans understand the potential opponents Manchester United might face.

Across the eight groups from A to H, the teams in Pot 1 were Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Lokomotiv Moscow, Bayern, Mancheng, Real Madrid, and Juventus.

Since Mancheng and Manchester United had to avoid each other, this meant there were a total of seven possible opponents for Manchester United from Pot 1.

"For Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Lokomotiv Moscow should be the best opponents; however, Manchester United's Champions League group draws in recent years have not been very favorable."

【Setting up expectations in advance, are we?】

【I suggest taking down Bayern again; I feel Tang Ye is naturally the bane of Germany.】

【Don't get your hopes up; Bayern can crush Manchester United anytime.】

【How about drawing Juventus and Barcelona? Let Messi and Ronaldo know who the true Tang Tang Qiuwang is!】

【Midnight is a bit tough; I'll check when I wake up tomorrow, hoping for good news about my GGBond.】

While fans casually expressed their opinions on Check Dongqiu Di, little did they know that a yellow-haired guy was monitoring their comments through his phone screen.

"Hmm..."

Pinching his nose, Tang Ye took a sip of apple juice.

Fans actually thought he was the bane of Germany; this statement was utterly wrong.

Having faced Bayern multiple times, Tang Ye naturally knew just how exaggerated the strength of the Fan Fan Dejia hegemon was.

Juventus and Barcelona?

No, those two teams were far too strong!

Then... Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid?

No, that wouldn't work either.

Let's see if there are any others.

Lokomotiv Moscow?

Better skip teams outside the top five leagues; if this so-called Lokomotiv pulls out a tactic Manchester United has never seen and causes an upset, that would be disastrous.

So then...

After eliminating the teams he didn't want to face, what remained were the opponents he hoped to encounter.

They were...

"Damn it."

Squinting at the phone screen, Tang Ye took a deep breath.

He seemed to have eliminated every single team from Pot 1...

Since all teams in Pot 1 were difficult to play against, there was no choice but to leave it to fate.

Tossing his phone onto the bedside table, Tang Ye turned off the bedroom light.

In recent days, he had been striving to accomplish one very important thing.

That was to try dreaming of Cristiano Ronaldo at night!

Not long ago, he had been scolded by Cristiano Ronaldo for slacking off in training; now, after twenty days of hard practice marking his return as a king, Tang Ye must exact his revenge on Cristiano Ronaldo!

Ding!

The phone suddenly rang; disturbed, Tang Ye was not very happy as he reached out and skillfully picked up the phone.

It was a message from Zhou Ye.

With less than five days left in the university holiday, Zhou Ye wanted to come over and stay with Tang Ye for a few days.

"..."

Placing his thumb on the phone screen and typing quickly, Tang Ye indicated that Zhou Ye should stay in BJ to study hard.

It wasn't that Tang Ye was heartless; it was just that he had very important matters to complete in the coming days.

Adjusting his sleeping position and then covering himself with the soft quilt, Tang Ye filled with anticipation for tonight.

Little Cristiano, hurry and enter my dreams!

At the residence in Huizhou, Guangdong, upon seeing the message Tang Ye sent on the phone, Zhou Ye's expression became somewhat aggrieved.

"Eh, what's wrong?"

Seeing his daughter like this, Father Zhou suddenly became anxious.

"Um, nothing, nothing."

Turning off the phone, Zhou Ye shook her head quickly.

"..."

Father Zhou squinted his eyes, slowly walked over to sit beside Zhou Ye, and said, "I've been through this before; if you encounter any problems, you can talk to your father."

"Zhou Ye, come, look me in the eyes and tell me honestly, have you started dating a boyfriend?"

Zhou Ye did not speak immediately, and Father Zhou knew his guess was correct.

"Sigh, you've only just started filming; you can't afford to be distracted. There's plenty of time for romance later..."

Seeing the expression on Zhou Ye's face, Father Zhou suddenly seemed to realize something.

"You haven't encountered a scumbag, have you?"

"I, I haven't. He is a very good person, Dad, you have to believe me, there won't be any problems, he really is a very good person!"

Zhou Ye placed her hand on her father's thigh, pleading.

"You!"

"Tell your boyfriend to come see me right now!"

"I can't, he's very busy, Dad, just believe me. He really is a very good person."

"Too busy to come? It seems you've lost your head."

Father Zhou stood up directly.

His intuition told him that his daughter had been deceived by a scumbag!

"Then giving me his phone number should be fine, right?"

"I can't, I can't disturb him; what if he gets angry?"

Zhou Ye stuffed her mobile phone under the sofa, absolutely refusing to give her father even a sliver of a chance.

"..."

"Fine, fine, alright then."

"Hiss—!"

"Come on, just tell me: does he ride a motorcycle, or an electric scooter? Tell me the truth, don't lie to me."

"No, hey, Dad, you have to believe me!"

Zhou Ye stood up to explain, answering very quickly, which caused her father to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

But his questioning was not yet over.

"Then... how is his education? Did he attend university?"

Zhou Ye pressed her lips together and said nothing.

The old father was already feeling a bit of pressure.

But it was still acceptable.

After all, university students were still relatively rare.

"Surely he has at least a high school education, right? Finding a job with a high school diploma isn't difficult these days."

Zhou Ye still remained silent.

"..."

"Hiss..."

An ominous premonition shot straight to the crown of his head.

"... His hair wouldn't happen to be yellow, would it?"

Zhou Ye offered an awkward smile.

"You!!!"

Father Zhou's face turned red, his index finger pointing angrily at his own daughter.

Never!

He had never been this angry before!

"You, you!"

"Zhou Ye, you!"

"I, I don't know what to say anymore!"

As a loving father, he felt as though his world had collapsed.

"You've been ravaged by a pig!"

"Here it comes, here it comes!"

Rushing forward quickly, Tang Ye delivered a precise low cross from the baseline, finding Ale in the penalty area.

Ale slide-shot!

Goal!

"Haha, Sebastian!"

Tang Ye pointed at Ale and laughed loudly: "Look behind you!"

Hmm?

Ale pulled his training jersey forward to look.

The grass was wet, and combined with the speed of the slide shot, Ale's back was covered in mud.

"Come on, stand still!"

Tang Ye shouted, then signaled to Rodri to pass him a ball.

He juggled the ball a few times, then struck it with a volley.

Crack!

Tang Ye's volley struck Ale's back, precisely removing the patch of mud with the deepest stain.

"Wow."

Ale's surprised expression made Tang Ye feel somewhat proud.

"No need to thank me, Sebastian."

"Beep beep!!!"

Tang Ye still wanted to show off his recent achievement to his teammates, but Fan Fan Dejiahe's whistle blew at that moment, prompting the players to run over quickly.

"Did you see that, Rod?"

Before Ten Hag could speak, Tang Ye chatted enough with his teammates first.

"Next time you get mud on you, don't brush it off; just come find me."

Tang Ye looked down at the grass; beneath his feet lay a ball.

"The way I hit doesn't hurt."

Tang Ye added.

"Then see if the way I hit hurts."

Saying this, Ten Hag raised his hand and swung at Tang Ye, startling the latter into hastily retreating.

"Damn!"

"Hahaha!"

"What are you afraid of~"

Ten Hag mimicked Tang Ye's tone: "Alright, alright, everyone quiet down a bit, listen carefully."

"Today's training is about done; I'll briefly mention what comes next. Hmm... the Champions League draw is tomorrow evening, right?"

"17:00!"

Tang Ye blurted out the answer; he was already prepared to watch the draw process with his teammates.

"Yes, that's correct; anyway, my point is that it doesn't matter which team we get, just keep your minds steady."

This season's Manchester United might not be overly strong, but advancing from the Champions League group stage was certainly no problem.

Therefore, Ten Hag's intention was for the players to focus on the league first.

At the start of the season, Manchester United drew two consecutive matches, leaving them some distance from the title contenders.

"We need to start catching up on points."

"September is the most crucial month."

Ten Hag stepped aside, and Fan Fan Dejiahe moved forward one step: "Next month we have four league matches; the only relatively tough one to handle should be Wolves. I just calculated that if we win all matches in September, breaking into the top three won't be an issue."

"Right, the goal for September is a clean sweep; this requirement might be a bit high, but here's the situation, folks: watching match recordings, I feel Liverpool seems a bit strange this season too. We can't be sure yet, but to be safe, we need to grab more points."

Manchester United had suffered losses in this regard before.

Last season, precisely because they earned too few points in the first half of the league campaign, they wanted to chase Mancheng in the second half but could never catch up.

The Premier League title differs somewhat from titles in other leagues; to win the Premier League, you must go all out right from the start of the season!

People's Daily Online, Beijing, August 31: The results of the 2017-18 Champions League group stage draw were unveiled in Monaco; Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur landed in the Group of Death, while Tang Ye faced Bayern Munich once again.

Grouping results.

Group B: Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan

Group C: Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, Liwupu, Red Star Belgrade

Group H: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Valencia, Young Boys Bern

It seemed Manchester United had locked horns with Bayern Munich; they played Bayern in last season's Champions League, and now they were meeting again this season.

Bayern was certainly not easy to play against, but aside from Bayern, the third-seeded and fourth-seeded teams Manchester United drew were quite decent.

Young Boys Bern?

As the only veteran over 40 years old in the history of the top five leagues, the thing Tang Ye loved doing most was bullying young people!

Just two hours after the draw results were released, Tang Ye received his Champions League mission.

【At 40 years old, you are competing in the Champions League again; when you hear the Champions League anthem, do you recall your 20-year-old self? Back then, you were merely an inexperienced youth.】

Competing in the Champions League again, yet Tang Ye would not recall his 20-year-old self.

Because he was 19 years old this year.

【Champions League Chain Mission, Stage One: Score 3 goals or provide 3 assists in the Champions League group stage.】

【Current Progress: Goals (0/3) / Assists (0/3)】

According to Tang Ye's memory, the reward for the Champions League Chain Mission should be a large amount of Counterattack Points.

This was indeed something to look forward to, as Tang Ye's 【Ronaldo Chicken Breast】 was not far from reaching max level.

His physical attributes were already excellent; if he upgraded the Chicken Breast to +10, wouldn't he take off directly!

A rugby player coming to play football!

On the second day of September, Manchester United officially released the squad list for the away match against Burnley, sparking some discussion among fans.

Douyu TV.

"If he can't make it to the World Finals, I feel Faker can retire already; at most S9, persisting one more year is about enough."

"Burp~"

First letting out a burp to prove his identity, Li Li Laoba began responding to questions from viewers in the livestream room.

"Can you evaluate Manchester United's upcoming matches..."

"Is there even anything to say about this? What kind of team is Burnley, and what kind of team is Manchester United (London accent)? They aren't even on the same level, okay? Burp~"

"Let me put it this way: with Tang Ye playing, even if you tied a dog to the Manchester United coaching bench, Burnley would still get thoroughly beaten."

Li Li Laoba seemed to look down on the team Burnley.

"Those defenders from the bottom-tier Premier League teams, honestly, by the time Tang Ye makes his move, they might not even have reacted yet. So tell me, how do you play against that? There's no way to play."

【Streamer, are you Tang Ye's son? Such blatant sucking up.】

【Can Li Laoba evaluate Lippi? What level is Lippi at?】

【Why aren't we talking about LOL anymore? What are you doing, streamer?】

【Talk about what LOL? Tang Tang Qiuwang has arrived!】

【No need; even if the real Tang Tang Qiuwang showed up, he'd still be talking about LOL. To be honest, GGBond's jungler is a bit fierce.】

"Evaluate Lippi..."

Li Li Laoba read the danmu.

"Personally, I don't really watch the Chinese Super League, but I do know a thing or two about the national team. As for Lippi, to be honest, reaching the World Cup Round of 16 was indeed a historical breakthrough. Under normal circumstances, Lippi would have earned a place in the history books of Chinese football; there are indeed many people praising Lippi right now."

Ignoring the content of his speech and looking only at his body posture while talking, Li Li Laoba always gave the livestream audience the impression that he knew his stuff extremely well.

"But to speak the plain truth, regarding Lippi's World Cup Round of 16 achievement, the 'Tang content' accounts for 90%."

"Did he contribute? Of course he did; the famous Italian coach Marcello Lippi (Manchester accent) is no joke."

"But would you say Lippi's contribution was that great? Not necessarily."

Li Li Laoba made gestures, placing his right hand atop his left: "Lippi was basically lying on the rickshaw pulled by Tang Ye, getting off to push a few steps when there was nothing else to do, but the one ultimately pulling the cart was still Tang Ye. If not for that outside-of-the-foot worldie, Lippi would have long since returned to Italy (Madrid accent)!"

"Beautiful, Rodri!"

Rodri dribbled down the left flank to the byline, while Tang Ye stood firmly in his own position in the center.

"Up, up!"

Goalkeeper Hart shouted, and Benjamin charged directly at Tang Ye.

Last month's match between Manchester United and Tottenham saw Tang Ye's long-range shot successfully wake up other teams in the same league, which led to Burnley now assigning specific man-marking duties against Tang Ye.

Even with possession, there was no shooting opportunity, so Tang Ye directly abandoned his position and turned to search for Mata on the right flank.

Mata and Tang Ye executed a crossing run!

Tang Ye had reached the vicinity of the byline!

Slap!

Rodri played a square pass finding Tang Ye.

"Oh!"

The home fans were already panicking, yet Tang Ye remained extremely calm.

His teammates' positions weren't very good; no rush, just wait a moment.

Allé made a forward run!

OK!

A great opportunity; Tang Ye played a cutback to find Rashford cutting inside.

Rashford!

Slap!

The shot was struck, but it was blocked by a Burnley defender.

The ball flew out!

"Challenge it, challenge it!"

Tang Ye helped shield off a defending player.

The rest was left to his teammates!

Smalling arrived at a gallop, controlled the ball, adjusted, and then lofted it back into the penalty area.

Mata immediately unleashed a volley.

"Goal!"

"Beautiful!"

Mata's goal; in the 7th minute of the first half, Manchester United took the lead in the scoreline first.

"Haha, Mata!"

Tang Ye and his dear Uncle Mata shared a chest bump.

Mata is too strong!

The camera panned; unsurprisingly, Ten Hag had already taken a seat on the substitutes' bench.

Manchester United's biggest characteristic is entering form late and then running out of steam early.

Simply put, Manchester United's strongest period is between the 20th and 70th minutes; in the first 20 minutes the players haven't entered their form, and in the last 20 minutes the handsome GGBond can't run anymore.

And today's match!

Bro, it's not even the 10th minute of the first half and Manchester United is already leading, and this is while the Manchester United players haven't fully entered their form yet.

What else can Burnley play for?

Covering his mouth, Tang Ye communicated with his teammates.

"We can play more aggressively; I feel we're incredibly fierce today."

The second half kickoff!

"..."

"Tang Ye, his speed is very impressive!"

"Tang Ye's decision here was excellent; since his teammates weren't in good receiving positions, he chose to carry the ball forward himself."

Tang Ye ran nearly 15 meters by himself, directly maxing out his ball possession time.

Of course, Burnley wouldn't let Tang Ye show off alone like this; once the defenders had pushed up to a certain extent, they stopped retreating further.

Thump-thump!

If Tang Ye focused carefully, he could hear the sound of his own super-fast heartbeat.

He was already prepared for a head-on collision with McNeil!

McNeil stuck out his foot!

Damn!

Startled, Tang Ye tumbled straight to the ground.

"Oh!"

But it didn't matter; Tang Ye's ability to handle unexpected situations was still very strong.

Propping himself up on the grass with his hands while controlling the ball with his feet, he rose to his feet while keeping the ball safely protected.

He sent a through pass into the penalty area!

Bang!

The through pass was made less than half a second after Tang Ye stood up; Tom clearly had no intention of giving the opposing defenders time to react.

The low-driven through pass shot past the Burnley captain's feet, delivering the ball precisely to Alé inside the penalty area.

A push shot!

Goal!

Tang Ye assisted Alé; this was Tang Ye's first assist of the season!

"Roar!"

Spreading his arms as he ran out, Tang Ye leaped directly onto Alé.

Afraid of falling off, he clamped his legs around Alé's waist!

【You have obtained 10 Counterattack Points】

【You have obtained a new side quest】

An assist was indeed worth 10 Counterattack Points, but after making this assist, Tang Ye also heard something else.

……

(End of Chapter)