Chapter 798: Tang Ye vs Wu Lei?

"Uh, this..."

The commentator fell silent.

Eight teams made it to the quarterfinals, yet the weakest among them drew Manchester United.

【66666】

【Insane, Tang Ye vs Wu Lei?】

【Can Wu Lei come on as a sub? Anyone who's watched La Liga, speak up.】

【This is basically a national team internal battle—assuming Wu Wangwang gets to play, it all depends on Emery's decision.】

Whether Emery gives Wu Lei a chance is indeed a question, but clearly not today's focus.

The camera cut to Emery, who sat quietly in his seat, expression filled with shock at the draw result, saying nothing.

Though unfinished, fans could easily imagine what Emery was thinking right now.

Fuck, why the hell did they put the first white ball back...

"Manchester United vs Villarreal... so Tang Ye might face Wu Lei in the Champions League knockout stage!"

"Hmm... this draw isn't favorable for Villarreal, but I'm still looking forward to the Manchester United vs Villarreal match."

Commentators and fans watching the broadcast were stunned; Manchester United, upon learning the draw, were even more shocked.

"Didn't you say UEFA would target us?"

Rodrigo looked over at Tang Ye.

Clearly, the great Manchester United captain had just made a wrong judgment.

Tang Ye claimed Manchester United would be targeted by UEFA and drawn against a strong team.

Yet Manchester United drew the team with the weakest paper strength among all opponents, completely disproving Tang Ye's prediction.

"I didn't know."

Tang Ye clasped his hands behind his head.

Though the result differed from his prediction, he was actually quite happy.

Facing Villarreal in the quarterfinals was indeed very easy.

But it was a pity for his Lei Ge.

Manchester United was comfortable; Villarreal was unfortunate.

"Don't you have a national team teammate at Villarreal?"

Rodrigo suddenly realized: "So you're not upset then."

"Haha, actually not really."

Tang Ye sat up straight, still watching the draw on screen, and replied to Rodrigo: "It's just unavoidable."

"So we can only sacrifice him a bit."

"Haha!"

Tang Ye's joke made Rodrigo and Rashford laugh: "Alright, but this draw is pretty good."

"Not just good."

Van Dijk chimed in: "It's extremely good."

"Yes, we can just lie back and play—Villarreal must be terrible."

No lie—Dembele had already lain down.

"That attitude will get you in trouble."

Van Dijk crossed his arms, stood rigidly, his expression terrifyingly serious.

"Fine, but Villarreal really is weak—I won't say anything else."

Manchester United players were already under heavy pressure; drawing Villarreal in the quarterfinals made things incredibly comfortable.

At least compared to the 2019–20 season's pandemic-era Champions League knockout stage, it was much more comfortable.

Perfect timing, perfect location, perfect conditions!

Everything was ready!

Pin: Champions League quarterfinal draw results—Bayern vs Liverpool, Man City vs Real Madrid, Emery's Villarreal drawn against Manchester United.

Roughly three days later, Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal finally qualified for the World Cup finals.

The World Cup group stage draw ceremony would begin on April 1st; Portugal's qualification came right at the wire.

Though they qualified late, since Portugal was among FIFA's top ten ranked teams, even their last-minute qualification granted them seed status.

This was extremely unfair—especially for the Chinese national team!

This Asian qualifiers campaign, the Chinese team performed like a tiger: topped their group, led Asia in points, and became the first team to qualify for the finals outside host nation Qatar.

Yet such a strong team couldn't become a top seed due to its low FIFA ranking—this was utterly outrageous.

In response, the Chinese newspaper *Sports Weekly* published an article, complaining not only about the World Cup seeding system but also offering a small prediction for China's seeding.

According to *Sports Weekly*'s analysis, China's FIFA ranking would see a slight rise after the next update.

If things went smoothly, China might secure second-seed status—that is, placement in the second pot.

The worst-case scenario was third-pot status, which would be a bad outcome for China.

Because between third and fourth pots, the difference was negligible—all were non-seed teams, and a draw could hand you France first, then the Netherlands, leaving you crushed before you knew it.

*Manchester Evening News*—FIFA tweet hints at imminent update to national team rankings; TY liked and retweeted.

The next several days were all non-match days, with the nearest event being the World Cup group stage draw on April 1st.

But this didn't mean Manchester United players could relax.

In April, Manchester United would face Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea in the Premier League—April would be the most pressured month of the season so far.

Remaining undefeated against Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea was no easy task.

Due to the April schedule, Ten Hag made a radical decision: temporarily reduce research on Villarreal and refocus on the Premier League.

The message was clear: Ten Hag didn't take Villarreal seriously at all.

At least in the Manchester United manager's view, staying undefeated in the Premier League was the priority; defeating their Champions League quarterfinal opponent was merely secondary.

At lunch in the cafeteria, Tang Ye squatted on his chair, his phone screen displaying the list of teams that had qualified for the World Cup group stage.

"You look under heavy pressure."

Ma Ta whispered: "Honestly, I've never seen you this stressed."

Tang Ye turned off his phone screen and shook his head: "Can't help it—maybe because the World Cup only comes every four years."

"You just haven't played enough. If you'd won one title, you wouldn't be so nervous—haha!"

"Hey, Ma Ta, I think you're right."

Tang Ye's eyes lit up.

Indeed.

The World Cup and Champions League aren't really different.

When Tang Ye first joined the Champions League, he thought it was a grand tournament and naturally felt nervous.

Now he'd won two Champions League titles, so playing knockout matches felt effortless.

Simply put—you need one great result to ease the pressure!

"But great results are hard to get..."

Tang Ye shook his head: "I've played one World Cup. My best result was the Round of 16—and we got crushed by Brazil in Russia. I have no idea how we'll play in Qatar."

"Relax, it's not..."

Ma Ta stopped mid-sentence.

He noticed Tang Ye suddenly looking up, face serious, his gaze fixed on Cristiano Ronaldo and Dalot entering through the door.

Ma Ta's relationship with Ronaldo was decent.

But he knew Tang Ye's terrible relationship with Ronaldo, so he wisely didn't continue speaking.

*Oriental Football Net* reposted—FIFA releases latest national team rankings: China ranks second in Asia, failed to overtake Japan.

Asian rankings:

1. Japan, 29th. (↑2)

2. China, 30th. (↑4)