As the World Footballer of the Year and European Ballon d'Or winner, Yang Yangfu quickly became the focus of attention as soon as he appeared at the Grimaldi Convention Center in Monaco, and whether he knew him or not, he would come over to say hello.

Liverpool general manager Rick Parry attended the draw ceremony as a representative of the club, and Yang Yang and Steven Gerrard received invitations from UEFA to attend the award ceremony, and the two were interspersed, but the guest positions were separated.

With Ronaldinho's sluggish performances, Yang Yang has begun to replace him after last season's performance and become the number one star in European football, which can be seen from the seat allocated to him by UEFA.

Even though Liverpool didn't have the last laugh in the Champions League last season, Yang Yang was still placed in the most prominent front row, next to Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard.

Barcelona star Lionel Messi did not come to the scene.

And the AC Milan player Kaka, who sat here last season and competed with Yang Yang for the best player, after a season of peak performance, fell a lot last season, on the one hand, injuries, and the player's own adjustment is also related, so he was not shortlisted for any awards.

There is even speculation that Kaka is likely to see a big decline in this year's awards.

Yang Yang doesn't particularly care about this, it's normal for professional players to have ups and downs, and the key is to see if Kaka can return to the top as soon as possible.

……

Although they are direct competitors, when Yang Yang and Cristiano Ronaldo meet, the two still talk and laugh, the atmosphere seems to be very harmonious, obviously the Portuguese is also in a very good mood, he must know that he has won the best player in advance, because this award is usually given to the champion team.

Even if it is not given to the championship team, there are still runners-up Frank Lampard and Drogba and others, and it is not Yang Yang's turn.

But now, none of the Chelsea players are small enough to play, including Didier Drogba, so the Portuguese should be sure to win the best player, so he is in a good mood.

Yang Yang also inquired about his injury with concern, hoping that he could recover and come back as soon as possible.

Ronaldo said he had no big problems and should be able to catch up with the match against Liverpool in mid-September.

It was the fourth round of the Premier League, and Liverpool hosted Manchester United, which will also be the first double red match of the season.

"Then I'll be waiting for you at Anfield!" Yang Yang replied without humility or arrogance.

……

According to the usual practice, the meeting was chaired by UEFA Secretary-General Gianni Infantino, who took the lead in introducing the Champions League in the past year, which highlighted Yang Yang.

UEFA has assessed that as an Asian player, Yang Yang has been able to perform well in the Champions League for three consecutive seasons, winning the Champions League top scorer for three consecutive years, and also won the World Footballer of the Year and the European Ballon d'Or last season, as well as a series of other major awards, which has greatly enhanced the influence of the Champions League and Europa League in Asia.

The award ceremony began first, with the best goalkeeper being awarded to Chelsea's Petr Cech without any suspense.

Even though the Czech goalkeeper has suffered a serious injury and his performance has dropped a lot, he is still one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

It then entered the draw for this season's Champions League group stage.

Last season's Champions League semi-finals were hailed as a Premier League civil war, and all four places were taken by Premier League teams, which caused a lot of repercussions in European football, and many people even believed that the Premier League was becoming the world's first league.

As a result, four of the eight first-seeded teams in Pot 1 of the 32 teams in the Champions League group this season are from the Premier League, while the remaining four are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Lyon.

Among them, Real Madrid, which has been in the round of 16 for many years, was almost dragged out of the ranks of the seeded team.

Liverpool have been drawn to Group D, which makes no big difference.

……

The award then went to Chelsea's John Terry, who was presented by legendary AC Milan captain Saresi Baresi.

This is somewhat controversial because United's Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were also very good, and Manchester United were one of the teams that defended the best last season, but it may have been given to Terry in the end, probably given the combination of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, and Terry being the one who held up the Chelsea defence.

This kind of selection is always accompanied by all kinds of controversies, and it is simply not possible to satisfy everyone.

……

In the second pot of the Champions League, there are very good teams such as Bayern Munich, Villarreal, PSV Eindhoven, Juventus, Roma and Porto, especially strong teams like Bayern Munich and Juventus, which are not easy to mess with.

But this time Liverpool's luck was good, drawing Eindhoven, although the strength is not bad, but it is an old rival, Yang Yang still remembers that in the season when Liverpool won the Champions League in 07, the opponent in the group stage was also Eindhoven.

……

This was followed by the award of the best midfielder, this time to Chelsea's Frank Lampard, the first Chelsea player to receive the honour, and it was Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton Athletic.

Frank Lampard had already been on the shortlist once, but that time he didn't have the last laugh, and this time he was able to beat the champions Manchester United's central midfielder, Paul Scholes, and it was not easy for him to be elected, and even Lampard himself felt a little flattered.

……

Compared to the draw in Pot 2, Liverpool's luck in Pot 3 is terrible.

The eight teams in this bracket are basically weak, but only Marseille from Ligue 1 has good overall strength.

Liverpool are no strangers to this team, as the Reds did not have an easy game when they faced Marseille in the group stage last season.

Unexpectedly, Liverpool drew the strongest team in the third pot again this time.

This made Yang Yang, who was sitting in the front row, look back, and smile bitterly at Gerald and the others behind him.

"It seems that our luck is really good, we are old rivals." Yang Yang said.

Gerald nodded, "The old opponent is good, and he is not rusty if he can't fight." He seemed eager to try.

PSV Eindhoven are opponents in the group stage of the 06-07 season, and Marseille are opponents in the group stage of the 07-08 season.

Yang Yang took a special look at the list of teams in the fourth pot, and the result was regrettable.

"There are no old opponents in fourth gear, otherwise, maybe it will be more interesting."

"There are two teams that are the most difficult to play, Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid, especially Atletico Madrid, this team has a lot of headaches." Gerald said with a frown.

Liverpool's draw is one gear worse than another, and this fourth gear is not so unlucky.

……

Before the fourth gear was drawn, the award ceremony entered the most suspenseful part of the game, that is, the award of the best striker.

Yang Yang and Cristiano Ronaldo are undoubtedly the two most vocal people, Yang Yang relies on real performances, but Cristiano Ronaldo is better in terms of results by virtue of Manchester United's championship.

It can be said that the competition between the two is half a catty, and each has its own strengths.

Not only the selection of the best striker in the Champions League, but even the selection of the European Ballon d'Or and the selection of the World Footballer of the Year, the two are in full swing, and no one knows who will win the award in the end.

So, in a way, the best striker is undoubtedly an appetizer.

But interestingly, the guest of honor is the famous Black Panther Eusebio from Portugal, which also made many people think that Xiao Xiaoluo should win the award.

The media and fans who support Yang Yang are definitely not convinced, because in terms of attacking power, goals, and performance on the field, Yang Yang is slightly better than Xiao Xiaoluo, and even if he plays Manchester United in the semifinals, Liverpool is forcing Manchester United to be extremely embarrassed.

Had it not been for two miscalculations, Liverpool would not have lost the penalty shoot-out at all.

Therefore, in this case, who will win the prize is still full of suspense.

After Eusebio took the stage, the atmosphere at the scene became apparently tense.

Although he has already won it once last year, Yang Yang definitely doesn't mind taking more, and compared to last year, his mentality is indeed much calmer, and then looking at Cristiano Ronaldo next to him, the Manchester United star is obviously very nervous, and his hands are clenched into fists on his thighs.

When he saw Yang Yang turn his head to look at him, Cristiano Ronaldo barely squeezed out a smile.

Yang Yang can understand his mood at this moment, he wants to win the two awards of Best Striker and Best Player, because it will make him win more gold.

Otherwise, if he only gets the best player but loses the best striker, it will undoubtedly depend more on Manchester United's overall results than on the individual performance of the players, and the gold content will be greatly reduced.

It is understandable to understand, and it is better to fight or to fight.

If he is not selected for the shortlist, then Yang Yang can simply look away, but since he is shortlisted, then he definitely wants to win, and there is no need to say nonsense such as fulfilling others.

He was invited to the Grimalty Convention Center just to fight, otherwise he would not have come.

"In the 2007-2008 season, the winner of the UEFA Champions League Striker of the Season was ......"

With Infantino's words, the atmosphere in the audience was tense to the extreme, and some people even held their breath and looked intently at the two people on the podium, especially Infantino.

He will announce the final winner, and that is ......

"Yang Yang!"

With Infantino's shout, the audience burst into warm applause and cheers.

Yang Yang got up from his seat, turned around, hugged Gerrard and Carragher and other teammates across the seat, and then extended his hands to Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese's face became very ugly, because he knew very well that even if his best player was nine out of ten, he was still inferior to Yang Yang tonight, and even tomorrow all the media reporters would praise Yang Yang.

Because his best player will be the best player without any gold.

But what could he say about it?

With fourteen goals and nine assists, Yang Yang deserves this award for this report card.

In desperation, the Portuguese could only step forward, hugged Yang Yang, and said sadly, "Congratulations!" ”