Volume 1: When a Hero Appears, People Pay Attention. Chapter 76: The Sequelae of Returning From St. Petersburg (First Update Guaranteed)

Chapter 76: The aftermath of returning from St. Petersburg (first update guaranteed)

The reason why Zenit St. Petersburg fans cheered Chen Yingxiong's goal so generously may be due to their own emotional reasons, but there may be another reason.

That is... they know that even if Chen Yingxiong equalizes the score for Naples, they will not be able to prevent this team from losing in the away game!

In the 79th minute, Denisov scored the second goal for Zenit St. Petersburg, turning the score into 2:1. Naples fell behind again.

But this time, Naples could no longer equalize the score and prevent a defeat.

Because Chen Yingxiong was replaced in the 76th minute.

Before he left the field, Zenit St. Petersburg's offense was getting higher and higher. Napoli's hand was shaky and could lose the ball at any time.

Mazzarri, who had already seen the crisis in Naples, directly replaced Chen Yingxiong and replaced him with defender Santa Croce.

But despite this, he still couldn't change the fate of conceding the ball.

This goal made Mazzarri realize that it was impossible to change his fate here, so he simply admitted defeat, replaced Cassano and Maggio respectively, and gave up continuing to attack.

In the end, Naples lost 1:2 away to Zenit St. Petersburg, which had an invincible home advantage, and experienced their first defeat in the Champions League.

At the post-match press conference, Mazzarri seemed helpless: "With this weather, this venue, this...away trip, my players have tried their best, and I am proud of their performance. But Everyone knows that a team cannot win all the time. In fact, I have been very happy with our performance in the first three group matches, so... this defeat may have come at the right time. "

After losing to Zenit St. Petersburg in an away game, the entire Naples team returned to Naples overnight on a private plane arranged by De Laurentiis.

It was too much trouble... Mazzarri called Mr. Chairman directly with a very stern tone. During the phone call, he asked De Laurentiis to come to Russia to rescue his troops.

In this way, with a defeat and a group of sick people, Naples escaped from the ice and snow of St. Petersburg in some embarrassment.

Chen Yingxiong doesn’t know if he will have the opportunity to play in St. Petersburg again in the future, but this trip back to St. Petersburg will be deeply memorable for him.

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Although they lost the game, as analyzed before, Naples did not lose the qualification to qualify for the group due to this defeat.

Lyon also won the ball, so Lyon topped the group with nine points, while Napoli fell to second place in the group. However, for Naples, who are participating in the Champions League group stage for the first time, their goal is obviously just to qualify. Before that, whether they were first or second in the group was not a matter for them at all.

However, Leon held back his energy and wanted to be first in that group, because in this way he could avoid the terrifying predators in other groups.

For Lyon, who can participate in the Champions League every year, qualifying for the group is not their goal at all. There must be a longer-term goal. The group ranking is largely related to how far they can ultimately go in the Champions League knockout rounds.

What surprises people is not the dark horse of Naples, but... Liverpool's rapid decline.

Previously, Napoli felt complacent that they could draw with the Red Army at Anfield, Liverpool's home stadium. But now they are not happy at all, because this is not worth showing off at all!

In the match on October 20th, Lyon had nearly defeated Liverpool at Anfield. Now they returned to home and defeated Liverpool again, completing a double play.

As a result, Liverpool fell to fourth in the group and became the bottom. Zenit St. Petersburg, relying on their terrifying home advantage, has now accumulated four points, surpassing Liverpool, which only has two points. They are very hopeful to participate in the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup...

This is something that no one thought about after the group results came out.

Before, everyone thought that in this group, if nothing else happened, Lyon and Liverpool should join hands to qualify, while Naples and Zenit St. Petersburg would compete for a UEFA Cup qualification.

Unexpectedly, after four rounds of group matches, the situation has changed completely...

Naples, a dark horse, emerged from nowhere and is currently ranked second in the group. It has great hope of advancing to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

As for Liverpool, even their club board of directors did not expect that the team's performance in the Champions League this season would be so poor. The fans thought they had drawn a good draw at first, and they were looking forward to it with joy that they might be able to recreate the glory of reversing AC Milan to win the championship in Istanbul in 2005.

Who would have thought...

But reality is so cruel, especially in the world of football, this cruelty will always be magnified a hundred times.

The rise of a new powerful family comes at the expense of the complete degradation of an old wealthy family...

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Returning to Italy does not mean relief and rest for Naples.

On the contrary, everything they experienced in St. Petersburg still needs time to digest.

Hamsik's fever has subsided, but his physical and mental conditions are very poor, so he still has to rest for a few days. Therefore, he cannot participate in the team's training normally. Even if his physical fitness is okay, he will not be able to participate in the away game against Catania.

And poor Christian Maggio was not only affected mentally, but also physically. He suffered some injuries during the game due to the slippery field. At first, he thought it was nothing serious, but when he returned to Naples for training, he discovered that the situation was serious... After examination, it was found that he had a thigh muscle strain and had to rest for at least two weeks.

As Christmas approaches, the number of injuries in the team also begins to increase. This gives Mazzarri a headache, because the subsequent schedule will only become more and more difficult to cope with... The only good thing is that the team's trident is not injured yet and is performing well.

A tired Napoli went to an away game against Catania. This is not a strong team. Catania is ranked 19th and second to last. After eleven rounds of league games, they have only accumulated seven points, winning only one game, drawing four games and losing six games.

It is such a team. If it were in the past, Naples would have absolute confidence in defeating the opponent even if it was on the road.

But this time, Naples, which is known for its super offensive power, did not score a single goal and shook hands with Catania 0:0 in the away game.

Naples, who had not won in two rounds, also dropped to sixth in the league after this game.

Naples's lack of experience in dealing with two-front operations and its weaknesses in personnel reserves were finally exposed.

Fortunately, Mazzarri will have a period of adjustment and rest right away - after playing Catania, it will be a week and a half of international A-level competition days. The national team competition will be the theme of actual football during this period.

Fortunately, there are not many international players in the Naples team at present, only Arshavin, Cassano, De Jong, Hamsik, Sanchez and others.

The most important thing is that Chen Yingxiong still does not need to participate in the national team competition, which makes Mazzarri most happy.

He had known Chen Yingxiong before and knew that the reason why Chen Yingxiong did not participate in the national team competition was because he was banned by the Chinese Football Association!

When Mazzarri heard this, he thought it was incredible and legendary. If he were an official of the Chinese Football Association, no matter what exaggerated words Chen Yingxiong said, he would definitely be called into the team, because he plays a vital role in improving the level of the Chinese national team.

But that was someone else's business after all, and he couldn't control it. Moreover... Chen Yingxiong's not participating in the national team competition is actually a good thing for Mazzarri. This means that Chen Yingxiong will get more opportunities to rest. He will not be infected with the so-called FIFA virus while traveling back and forth, and he will not be injured in national team games.

At this time, Naples needs a healthy Chen Yingxiong.

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On every national team match day, debates rage in China about whether Chen Yingxiong should return to the national team. But no matter how noisy the media and fans are, the Football Association's attitude will not relent - they will not talk about the name Chen Yingxiong at all, as if Naples does not have a Chinese player named Chen Yingxiong at all.

Some fans have already labeled the Chinese Football Association as "currently the largest traitor organization in China."

But none of this helps.

Whenever the national team matches, Chinese fans never want to see that arrogant big man in the national team.

Whether the Chinese team wins or loses, it never really gets the fans interested.

How long will this situation last?

Nobody knows.

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While Chinese fans were regretting that Chen Yingxiong still missed the national team, Chen Yingxiong didn't care about the national team's games at all.

Since he was expelled from the Football Association, he has not watched the national team's games and has no understanding of the current situation of the national team.

He is training intensely with Inzaghi and Maldini in the copy.

There is no skill in practicing running without the ball. Practice makes perfect. Practice practice again and again, repeat it again and again. Use thousands of repetitions to turn it into an experience, and then transform the experience into the body's instinct, so that outsiders can see it. Come on, this is like...a talent.

"Stop, hero! You have to pay attention to your surroundings... If you continue to run like this, aren't you running into the opponent's circle?"

"Very good, you ran in the right position, but you ran too early! You couldn't catch the ball at all!"

"Pay attention to your teammates, don't just focus on the movement, you have to pay attention to your teammates at the same time, watch their movement and passing, and seize the opportunity!"

"Timing! Timing! Timing is the most important! Half a second earlier or half a second later, you won't be able to catch the ball! You won't get a chance to shoot!"

"Time is too tight. What if you don't have time to run to the empty space in conventional ways? You can use some unconventional methods..."

"When shooting, don't pursue beautiful moves or a look that can be on the cover of a magazine. You have to remember that you are a striker, and your only task is to score goals. As long as you can put the football into the goal, you don't care what you use. Any way, head, feet, legs, chest, butt...even hands, as long as you can't let the referee see it, it's fine!"

Inzaghi's voice kept ringing in the virtual training ground copy.

Chen Yingxiong believes that Inzaghi is definitely not like this in reality, so this is really an apprenticeship... Inzaghi in front of him is like a driving school instructor, constantly scolding him loudly and correcting his mistakes.

But don't mention it, with such a teacher teaching him, Chen Yingxiong feels that his progress is indeed much faster...

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ps, let me give you a warning in advance, there will be an outbreak on Saturday the 24th the day after tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, two consecutive days, four updates a day~