Volume 1: Heroes Come and Go, People Pay Attention Chapter 19 Champions League Qualification (Second Update Guaranteed, Please Vote for Me!)

Chapter 19 Champions League Qualification (Second update guaranteed, please vote for me!)

Sporting Lisbon has been deteriorating in the past two years. In Portugal, it can no longer compete with teams like Porto and Benfica, and the team's strength is not as good as before.

It can be seen from the current staffing of their team that there is a lot of confusion in their eyes...

But this time they were fighting on their home court after all, so they were full of momentum. Who doesn’t want to go to the Champions League?

Everyone wants to go.

Especially Sporting Lisbon. They participated in one more qualifying round than Naples. They worked hard to get from the third to the fourth round of qualifying. They were just one step away from entering the Champions League main draw. How could they give up?

So when Lisbon scored first, no one was surprised.

"Liedson! A very crisp follow-up from the middle! The ball went in!!!"

"Sporting Lisbon opened the scoring at home and they took the lead!"

"This is good news for Sporting Lisbon, which hopes to enter the Champions League!"

There was a huge cheer from the stands of the Alvalade Stadium as the Portuguese celebrated his goal.

Unfortunately, the excitement of these Portuguese people did not last long, because Napoli equalized the score ten minutes later...

"Antonio Cassano... Cassano, Cassano - beautiful pass! He passed the football to Chen Yingxiong, and Chen Yingxiong shot! The football was saved by goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic ...It was Arshavin who followed up! Beautiful - the ball went in! The ball went in!!"

The Tridents cooperated for the first time in an official game and scored a goal.

Cassano dribbled the ball to launch an attack. After attracting the opponent's attention, he passed the football to Chen Yingxiong. Chen Yingxiong received the ball and shot. The goalkeeper saved the ball with all his strength, but he also lost his position, leaving a huge gap. The empty goal was missed, and Arshavin followed up in time to pick up the missed goal and successfully made a follow-up shot.

On the coaching bench, Mazzarri stood up from his seat with his arms raised high and walked to the sidelines to celebrate the goal with his colleagues around him.

What he valued more was not the goal, but that through this goal, he saw that the front trident was functioning well.

In fact, Naples' offensive tactics are very simple. Hamsik is responsible for controlling the rhythm and the connection between offense and defense. The specific offense is completed by Cassano, Chen Yingxiong, and Arshavin. Arshavin and Cassano can frequently change positions, but regardless of No matter how to change, it will always revolve around the core of Chen Yingxiong, so that the team's offense will have a direction.

What if the other party targets Chen Yingxiong? It doesn't matter, both Arshavin and Cassano have excellent scoring abilities. Although Cassano is in the winger position, he is often more like a second forward.

Arshavin can also switch back and forth between crossing from the wing and shooting inside without any problems.

Moreover, Chen Yingxiong has made great progress compared to when he first joined Naples last season. His ability to understand tactics has been greatly improved, and his foot skills are also different from before. Mazzarri watched Chen Yingxiong grow up little by little. Sometimes he was surprised by Chen Yingxiong's growth rate and felt that this kid was truly a genius!

But how did he know that Chen Yingxiong's rapid growth was because he had a copy, and at the same time he paid an unimaginable price...

The trident combination formed by these three people is unpredictable and can be strong or soft. As long as it operates normally, it will naturally be powerful.

It is easy to target one person alone, but to target three people together... I am afraid it is not easy. There are not many teams in Europe that can do this.

Relying on this trident, Mazzarri plans to go to the Champions League to compete with those giants.

From the current point of view, the team's defense may still have problems of one kind or another, but the offense should be fine...

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Naples, who had equalized the score, were full of momentum and continued to launch attacks in the next game.

It looks like this is their home court.

Sporting Lisbon can only struggle to support itself.

They successfully defended the first half, but neither side was able to score again, and the score was 1:1.

But as soon as the second half started, Naples stepped up their attack. Mazzarri asked the two full-backs, Maggio and Aronica, to actively provide assists.

This immediately put huge pressure on Sporting Lisbon's defense. Dealing with Arshavin, Chen Yingxiong, Cassano and Hamsik already gave them a headache...

In the 68th minute, Naples took the lead as they wished.

However, the scorer was not center Chen Yingxiong, but Hamsik. He received the ball passed back to him by Cassano and took a long shot from outside the penalty area.

Chen Yingxiong had several scoring opportunities in this game, but he failed to seize them.

Chen Yingxiong's current problem is that he cannot seize opportunities when he has them, and his ability to seize opportunities is still lacking. Regardless of the fact that he scores more goals, it is because he has more opportunities. Whether it is at Zenit St. Petersburg or Naples, the whole team plays around him, and there are naturally more passes to him.

As a common problem for young players, he lacks experience and is still a little restless when facing the goal, so he will miss some seemingly good opportunities.

But he can often score some very difficult goals...

Despite this, his goalscoring rate is already horrific. If he could correct this problem of his, and as time goes by, his ability to seize opportunities in front of goal becomes stronger and stronger, what would he look like?

It's really scary and exciting at the same time...

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Although they took the lead, Napoli did not take away a victory from the away game.

At the critical moment, Sporting Lisbon burst out with huge energy at their home court, and they equalized in the 81st minute.

Mazzarri then replaced Chen Yingxiong and Cassano, and replaced Sarayeta and Chigarini. He is already very satisfied with this score. A draw on the road is a victory, not to mention that his team also scored two away goals.

Neither side achieved anything more.

The game ended at 2:2.

For Napoli, they got their Champions League qualifying campaign off to a good start.

When you return to your home court, the pressure will be much lighter. It can even be said that Naples is only one step away from the Champions League.

All Naples was gripped by a fever of passion which lasted for several days.

It has been nineteen years since Naples participated in the Champions League. The last time they participated in the Champions League was back in the 1990-1991 season during the Maradona era. In that season, Naples reached the second round of the Champions League. But when Maradona was found to be taking drugs, Naples also collapsed.

Since then, he has never played in the Champions League again.

Naples fans have even forgotten that there is such a competition in Europe. The bustling UEFA Champions League every year has nothing to do with them. They are two different worlds.

But who wouldn’t want to perform on the biggest and best stage?

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Back in Naples, the team continues to prepare for the new season and the second round of the Champions League qualifying rounds.

There are still many problems to be solved, such as the team's defense. Ranocchia has just returned from injury and is not in the best physical condition. In addition, as a new player who joined the team, his cooperation with his teammates is not tacit enough. .

Besides, Naples has insisted on a three-back tactical system for several years, and suddenly they are asked to play four defenders and two central defenders. They are still a little uncomfortable...

These all need to be adjusted.

But no matter how you adjust, you have to win first.

And the Serie A league is about to start.

The new season of Serie A kicked off on August 22nd. Naples' first round of the league was on the evening of the 23rd, when they challenged Palermo away from home.

Naples, who were focused on the Champions League qualifying rounds, seemed a little distracted in this game. In addition, Mazzarri deliberately performed rotation-the team will fight on multiple fronts this season, and he has to see if the rotation method works first, and at the same time, let these players adapt to the rotation in advance.

As a result, Naples lost to Páramo 1:2 in the away game.

Chen Yingxiong, the league's top scorer last season, did not score because he did not start at all. He only got playing time in the last ten minutes, but did not get a chance.

It was captain Paul Cannavaro who scored the team's first goal of the season. He used his header to score Palermo's goal during a corner kick.

The first time rotation was used, the team suffered a failure. It seemed that the team was still not used to rotation.

But it doesn't matter, everything must have a process of adaptation. The defeat in this game will not shake Naples coach Mazzarri's determination to continue experimenting with rotations. Rotation is almost inevitable, because he cannot conquer the world with just one lineup.

Players adapt best, and they have to adapt even if they don't adapt.

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On August 26, Naples welcomed Sporting Lisbon at their home court.

For the people of Naples, there are only ninety minutes left before the Champions League. But for Sporting Lisbon, this is their last chance to make a comeback.

Even though there is little hope, they must try their best.

So this game entered a fast pace from the beginning.

Both sides come and go and open and close.

The final score was fixed at 3:2. Naples' attack was stronger than the outside world thought, and their defense was weaker than what the media commented.

Chen Yingxiong still did not score a goal, but he had an assist.

Napoli's third goal came from his assist in the penalty area. He passed the football to Cassano, who was in a better position than himself, without taking credit.

Cassano also scored his first official goal since joining Naples.

However, allowing Sporting Lisbon to score two goals in the away game still made Mazzarri very angry.

This is what he said at the post-match press conference: "Fortunately we won, fortunately our offense was strong enough, otherwise I really can't imagine what this game would have turned out to be..."

After the game, the news media also said that although Naples successfully qualified for the Champions League, the process was too thrilling.

"...It was only two rounds of qualifying matches, and Naples had ups and downs. Facing the average Sporting Lisbon, they conceded a total of four goals. With such a defense, if they go to the Champions League main game, I don't know what to do. How much money is missing. So I think Naples will have a problem qualifying for the group..."

"The arrival of Ranocchia did not immediately change the problem of Napoli's defense. He still seemed a bit rusty on the court. He was recovering from injuries in the first half of the year and needs to slowly find his condition... Paul Cannavaro is unable to support himself with a four-back system. Naples is a bit uncomfortable..."

The media is full of worried voices.

However, there is nothing wrong with Naples' offense. The only problem is that Chen Yingxiong has not scored yet.

But this is not unusual. After all, Chen Yingxiong has this characteristic - he will always burst out for a while, and then fall into an inexplicable scoring drought for a while. It is quite in line with the characteristics of young players who are not stable enough, have great ups and downs, are full of explosive power, but have insufficient endurance...

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