Chapter 1 Chen Yingxiong's Goal

Of course, Chen Yingxiong wanted to score a goal as well, but one thing at a time. He would be happy when his friend scored, and he wouldn't sulk just because he didn't score, as if someone owed him two hundred coins.

Chen Yingxiong wasn't that petty.

But he really wanted to score a goal.

Why? Because…

"My great axe is already thirsty!"

Entering halftime, Chen Yingxiong couldn't help but sigh again.

Of course, no one around him understood…

The other two prongs of the trident had scored, but he hadn't. It still felt a bit unfair!

He made a swinging motion with his great axe, as if he could split the opponent's defense in two.

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Mazzarri was considering why Chen Yingxiong hadn't scored yet.

It was clear that Livorno had put in a lot of effort to target Chen Yingxiong in this match.

This was the side effect of being the Serie A's top scorer—Chen Yingxiong was now famous, and even promoted teams would prioritize how to contain Chen Yingxiong from scoring when facing Napoli, rather than defending Arshavin and Cassano.

From the first half, Chen Yingxiong was heavily restricted, especially in receiving the ball and turning around.

How to liberate Chen Yingxiong in the second half?

Continuous crosses from the flanks, a strong high point attack? Fully utilize Chen Yingxiong's advantage in heading?

Or pull him out of the penalty area so he could gain space to turn around and face the goal for a shot? His long-range shooting ability was quite good…

He decided to ask Chen Yingxiong's opinion.

First, start with a joke to avoid making Chen Yingxiong too anxious and nervous, which would only make things worse…

"Hero, how is it? Are you feeling the troubles of being a celebrity now?" He said to Chen Yingxiong with a smile in the locker room.

"If you mean I didn't score… it has nothing to do with my fame. I just… uh, dozed off." Chen Yingxiong stubbornly retorted.

The teammates next to him laughed.

Cassano laughed especially loudly. In the end, only his laughter remained in the locker room, and it sounded so fake.

Chen Yingxiong glared at Cassano.

Cassano immediately made a "I'm so scared" expression, which made everyone laugh again.

The team was currently leading by two goals, and there was still half a game left, so it shouldn't be a problem to win this game. Therefore, everyone was in a relaxed mood.

"Okay, so are you awake now?" Mazzarri asked with a smile.

"I think so, I'm awake!" Chen Yingxiong answered confidently.

"Very good, so are you planning to stay in the penalty area or try to pull out and look for other opportunities?"

Chen Yingxiong's answer was very much his style: "Of course, I'll stay at the front, coach! I'm a center forward!"

That meant that a center forward should stay at the front and never retreat.

Mazzarri thought about it and felt it was worth a try. Although Chen Yingxiong was in the penalty area in the first half, he was not given priority for support. Most of the balls were given to Arshavin and Cassano, so they each had a goal. Chen Yingxiong played the role of attracting defensive firepower.

"Okay, guys, in the second half, we need to go more on the flanks and pass the ball to Hero more, especially aerial balls!" He patted the top of his head.

Chen Yingxiong also waved to everyone and said, "Blame me if I don't receive it!"

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In the second half, Chen Yingxiong rushed out waving his great axe, intending to fight Livorno to the death and score his first goal of the season.

Napoli's tactics also changed from the first half. They started crossing more frequently from the flanks, putting pressure on Livorno from the air.

Neither the Colombian defender Nelson Rivas nor the captain Fabio Galante could compete with Chen Yingxiong in the air alone.

So they both went up together.

In fact, they had done this in the first half, and the effect was barely acceptable. Although it caused several dangerous situations in front of the goal, at least it didn't allow Chen Yingxiong to score.

But in the second half, they found that the pressure had increased sharply, and even with two people, they couldn't handle it…

Just when they were about to collapse, good news came from the front. They scored!

Yes, Livorno scored!

The visiting promoted team Livorno scored a goal, bringing the score to 1:2!

"Ah… ah… Livorno scored! Napoli's defense has once again shown a lack of coordination. It seems that the pre-season analysis was correct. If there is any factor that may cause this team to fall short, it must be their defense… Ranocchia's condition is very average. He made a mistake in marking in this game, which led to Livorno's forward Lucarelli scoring a point for the team. This point is very important. Maybe Livorno can take this opportunity to launch a large-scale counterattack and equalize the score in one breath?"

Seeing the team concede a goal, Mazzarri looked very angry on the sidelines—he was very dissatisfied with the team's defense.

But now is not the time to think about how to strengthen the defense, but to think about how to score again.

Chen Yingxiong watched the team concede a goal and clenched his fists in front.

The so-called hero should appear at this time, right?

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"Hero! His shot was saved, what a pity! Napoli got a corner kick!"

The commentator shouted.

Livorno's players became nervous.

Before the game, their coach Russo had specifically warned them to be extra careful about Chen Yingxiong's role in corner kicks. In order to defend Chen Yingxiong, Russo had specifically arranged for multiple people to contain him in corner kicks, not allowing him to head the ball.

In open play, limited by conditions, Livorno could not spare more people to defend Chen Yingxiong. But in corner kick tactics, he could freely arrange personnel to defend Chen Yingxiong.

Therefore, this time… there were three players surrounding Chen Yingxiong, and another player was waiting for an opportunity to move.

One person attracted the defense of four players. If the ball were passed to other Napoli players, such as Paolo Cannavaro, a central defender who is also excellent at heading, wouldn't they be able to score?

But no, Arshavin, who took the corner kick, directly raised his index finger to tell everyone that we would use tactic number one for this corner kick.

The so-called "tactic number one" is a tactic with Chen Yingxiong as the main attacking point. The ball is directly passed to Chen Yingxiong, and Chen Yingxiong has to lie in ambush at the back post. The requirement for the kicker is to kick the ball as high and far as possible. The ball can bypass the area with the most people in front of the goal, and it is not easy to be headed out by the defender in advance.

The disadvantage is that the time the ball spends in the air becomes longer, and the opponent's defender can complete the deployment in advance. The attacking player loses the suddenness when heading the ball. In addition, because it is a standing jump with a small angle, the requirements for the heading technique and physical fitness of the header are higher.

But Arshavin insisted on using the team's number one corner kick tactic, which was enough to show his confidence in Chen Yingxiong.

Joking, the air is Chen Yingxiong's territory!

This was already clear when they were still at Zenit St. Petersburg.

There may be players who can stop Chen Yingxiong in the air, but definitely not these people from Livorno…

So Arshavin insisted on using the number one corner kick tactic.

After seeing his gesture, Chen Yingxiong also ran from the middle to the back post.

Seeing his position change, Livorno's defenders planned to follow him all the way. At this time, Paolo Cannavaro came up to fill the gap left by Chen Yingxiong.

In the last league game, Cannavaro was the one who scored the team's first goal of the new season, also a corner kick. This central defender's ability to score corner kicks is also not weak…

His arrival made Livorno's defenders hesitate—they didn't know what Napoli's number one corner kick tactic meant, nor did they know what Arshavin's gesture specifically represented. They just used the simplest principle to analyze that Paolo Cannavaro is also a player who is good at heading the ball. He appeared in the middle of the small penalty area, so he cannot be ignored…

In this way, the four people who were originally marking Chen Yingxiong finally assigned Rivas to deal with Paolo Cannavaro.

And there were only three people left around Chen Yingxiong, namely the team's captain, the central defender Galante, who is 1.85 meters tall and weighs 80 kilograms, the right back Perticone, who is 1.83 meters tall and weighs 76 kilograms, and the forward Lucarelli, who is 1.88 meters tall and weighs 83 kilograms…

Yes, because Livorno's ability in air defense is really too poor, their center forward Lucarelli, who is excellent at heading, is also an indispensable member of the corner kick defense tactics.

Chen Yingxiong looked at the three people around him. They formed a triangle, surrounding him and trying to stop him.

He raised his hand high: Fire at me—!

Arshavin took a run-up and kicked the ball up.

As expected, as practiced in training, the ball was high and floating, flying towards the back post of the goal.

Livorno's number eleven player, Benussi, is not a forward, winger, or attacking midfielder, but a goalkeeper. He looked up at the ball, adjusting his position with the ball.

At first, the position he chose was the center of the goal in a规矩 manner, taking care of the ball from any direction, but when the ball flew straight to the back post, he quickly followed the ball to the back post.

When he could no longer see the ball, he turned around suddenly, ready to save the ball.

At the same time, Chen Yingxiong also jumped high, and with him were three players wearing Livorno jerseys.

But Chen Yingxiong did not jump on the spot. He made a kicking motion forward when he jumped, so his jump was… going forward!

Like a long-handled battle-axe, he drew an arc from behind and swung it towards the target in front!

Perticone was just a passerby. He was behind Chen Yingxiong before. When Chen Yingxiong jumped forward, he was thrown away…

There are now two Livorno players in front of Chen Yingxiong, one is their captain and the other is the tall center forward who just scored.

Chen Yingxiong completely ignored them and crashed into the ball!

His two shoulders collided with Galante and Lucarelli on either side!

Chen Yingxiong descended from the sky, forcibly splitting a path through the heavy obstacles!

"Header—!" the commentator exclaimed.

Bang!

It was the sound of the ball colliding with the forehead, and sweat splashed out as the hair was甩开.

The ball crossed the ten fingers of goalkeeper Benussi and flew straight to the far post…

Then it fell directly into the goal from the junction of the post and the crossbar!

"GooooooooooooooL!! The goal is scored! The goal is scored!"

"Chen Yingxiong finally scored his first league goal of the season! Beautiful!"

"Signature header! He still headed the ball in under the defense of three players! Chen Yingxiong in the air is really terrifying!"

My great axe has tasted blood!

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ps, the last day of November, ask for monthly tickets, ask for monthly tickets!!