352 The Champions League Grouping Part 2 (2/2)

Group E's seeded team was the Italian powerhouse club, AC Milan.

Group F's seeded team was ”The Red Devils,” Manchester United.

Group G's seeded team was England's traditional and strong team, Liverpool.

Group H's seeded team came from Milan, Italy: Inter Milan.

After the seeded teams in the eight groups were determined, the draw began for the other teams.

As the small balls were removed from the glass bowl one after another, they were each opened and pieces of paper with the names of the clubs were displayed in front of the camera and then uploaded to the large screen onsite. There was a constant stream of voices of wonder, joy, and discontent.

The hands of destiny fiddled with the small balls in the box and played with the moods of all the managers.

Because the Forest team had broken into the Champions League again after twenty-four years, no matter how brilliant they had been twenty-four years ago, now they could only be counted as a fourth tier team. They would be drawn last.

Mourinho's Chelsea was placed among the second-tier teams. When the person in charge of the draw opened Group G and the next person took out a written ”Chelsea” note, there was a huge commotion for the first time.

In the Champions League last season, it was Liverpool which had eliminated Chelsea in the semi-finals before they had advanced into the finals to create that unforgettable reversal. Unexpectedly, those two arch rivals had come together today again. Some people whistled to gloat, and some people watched the show indifferently. Mourinho looked blank and expressionless while Benítez frowned.

Who could believe that there was no artificial manipulation in the UEFA draw?

At the very least, Mourinho and Benítez did not believe it.

Twain thought of what Mourinho had said to him before: ”The odds of the teams from the same country league being in the same group are too narrow.”

That was really a farce. He also sniggered along with the others.

However, Twain's laughter did not last long. Soon after, he frowned as well.

The draw of the fourth-tier teams began. The first letter to be taken out was ”D.” Which unlucky team would be in the same group as Real Madrid, Benfica and Lille, and become the target to snatch points from?

The second person took a small ball out of the box, opened it and pulled out the folded note. He glanced at it, flipped it to show the audience, and reported the team's name at the same time:

”Nottingham Forest.”