Our Goal Is Still the Treble!

When Butragueño, Real Madrid's representative from the venue of the Champions League final, opened the ball he had just drawn, took out the slip bearing Manchester United's name, flipped it over, and displayed it to the live broadcast camera, Su Dong sensed that the atmosphere around him had grown somewhat tense.

Indeed, this was not a good draw!

This year's Champions League quarterfinal lineup had actually been quite unexpected, but after giving it some thought, it also seemed understandable.

For one thing, many of the strongest teams had fallen.

Strong teams such as Juventus, Atlético Madrid, and Liverpool had crashed out in the group stage, while Real Madrid, AC Milan, Chelsea, and Porto had all been eliminated in the round of sixteen. As a result, Bordeaux and Moscow Central Army had made it into the Champions League quarterfinals.

The reason for this situation could be traced back to the loss of players during the summer transfer window.

In the eyes of Bayern's players, whether it was Bordeaux, Moscow Central Army, or Lyon, which had eliminated Real Madrid, all three were excellent opponents. Yet Bayern had successfully avoided those teams, as well as Arsenal and Inter Milan, who were slightly weaker, only to draw Manchester United. Their luck was truly awful.

On the other hand, Lyon had drawn Bordeaux, while Moscow Central Army had drawn Inter Milan. Was that really just a coincidence?

Sure enough, as soon as the draw results were announced, Bayern's players began voicing their doubts, believing that this was yet another "conspiracy" by UEFA.

Ever since Platini had taken office in 2007, controversies like this had continued without end. Every year, several teams seemed to have extraordinarily good luck in the draw. This year, for example, Bordeaux had drawn Olympiacos, while Moscow Central Army had drawn Seville.