The glamour of Monaco returns to launch a new Champions League campaign today but this time the draw for the group stages will spring a surprise. The Grimaldi Forum will bring together the elite of European football for the draw (17:45 C + Champions League, Tdp, Esport 3) in a ceremony that will pay tribute to Real Madrid, as confirmed to this newspaper from sources at European football’s governing body.
Michel Platini, president of UEFA, wants to highlight Real Madrid’s tenth European Cup following their Champions League final victory against Atletico Madrid in Lisbon in May. La Décima ensures Real are by far and away the most successful club in the history of the competition, with only Milan coming close with seven titles. Madrid’s success has cemented their status as an iconic club in world football.
The tribute is not listed in the official schedule of the event but the large Madrid presence in Monaco will ensure the draw has a clear Madridista flavour. The Real contingent will be led by president Florentino Pérez while Iker Casillas, who lifted La Décima, Paco Gento, the only player to have won six European Cups, Fernando Hierro, who won three, and Manolo Sanchez, the captain of Madrid as they won their seventh and eighth cup, will also be present. They will all sport the club’s official outfits.
Madrid vice president Pedro López Jiménez was already in the principality yesterday to attend the official dinner hosted by UEFA. Other representatives of the teams participating in this season’s Champions League also attended as did Angel Villar, the president of the Spanish Football Federation.
The Madrid party will be complete if Cristiano Ronaldo picks up the award for the Best Player in Europe last season, a prize he is competing against German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Dutch winger Arjen Robben for. Success for Cristiano would be the icing on the cake as far as Real are concerned.
from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1lhIDZ9
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