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

This can be seen from their current personnel configuration, with a noticeable gap between generations...

But after all, this match was on their home turf, so their momentum was like a rainbow. Who doesn't want to go to the Champions League?

Everyone wants to go.

Especially Lisbon Sporting, who participated in one more round of qualifying than Napoli. They worked hard from the third round to the fourth round of qualifying, and they were just one step away from entering the Champions League group stage. How could they give up?

So no one was surprised when Lisbon scored first.

"Liedson! A very decisive follow-up in the middle! Goal!!!"

"Lisbon Sporting opened the scoring at their home stadium, taking the lead!"

"This is good news for Lisbon Sporting, who hope to advance to the Champions League group stage!!"

A huge cheer erupted from the stands of the Estádio José Alvalade, as the Portuguese celebrated the goal.

Unfortunately, the excitement of these Portuguese people didn't last long, because Napoli equalized the score ten minutes later...

"Antonio Cassano... Cassano, Cassano—beautiful pass! He passed the ball to Chen Hero, Chen Hero shoots! The ball was saved by goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic... Arshavin follows up! Beautiful—goal!! Goal!!"

The Trident scored in their first official match together.

Cassano dribbled the ball to launch an attack, attracting the opponent's attention, and then passed the ball to Chen Hero. Chen Hero shot after receiving the ball. The goalkeeper tried his best to save the ball, but lost his position, leaving a huge empty goal. Arshavin followed up in time and scored the rebound.

Coach Mazzarri raised his arms from his seat on the bench and walked to the sidelines to celebrate the goal with his colleagues.

What he valued more was not the goal itself, but through this goal, he saw the front Trident operating well.

In fact, Napoli's offensive tactics are very simple. Hamsik is responsible for controlling the rhythm and connecting offense and defense, while the specific attacks are completed by Cassano, Chen Hero, and Arshavin. Arshavin and Cassano can frequently switch positions, but no matter how they switch, they always revolve around Chen Hero as the core, so that the team's attack has a direction.

What if the opponent marks Chen Hero to death? It doesn't matter, whether it's Arshavin or Cassano, they both have very good scoring ability. Although Cassano is in the winger position, he is more like a second striker in many cases.

Arshavin can also switch back and forth between crossing from the wing and cutting inside to shoot, without any problems.

Moreover, Chen Hero has made great progress compared to when he first joined Napoli last season. His ability to understand tactics has been greatly improved, and his footwork is also different from before. Mazzarri watched Chen Hero grow up little by little, and he was sometimes surprised by Chen Hero's growth rate, feeling that this kid really deserves to be a genius!

But little did he know that Chen Hero's rapid growth was because he had a copy and paid an unimaginable price...

The trident combination of these three people is unpredictable, both flexible and strong. As long as it operates normally, it will naturally be powerful.

It's easy to mark one person alone, but it's probably not easy to mark three people together... Not many teams in Europe can do this.

Mazzarri relies on such a trident to compete with those giants in the Champions League arena.

From the current point of view, the team's defense may still have this or that problem, but the offense should be fine...

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Napoli, who equalized the score, had a rainbow-like momentum and continued to launch offensives in the following games.

It looked like it was their home game.

Lisbon Sporting could only struggle to support themselves.

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

But as soon as the second half started, Napoli stepped up their offensive. Mazzarri asked the two full-backs, Maggio and Aronica, to actively step up to assist.

This put tremendous pressure on Lisbon Sporting's defense. Dealing with Arshavin, Chen Hero, Cassano and Hamsik was already giving them a headache...

In the sixty-eighth minute, Napoli got their wish and took the lead.

However, the scorer was not center Chen Hero, but Hamsik, who received a pass back from Cassano and took a long shot from outside the penalty area.

Chen Hero had several scoring opportunities in this game, but he didn't seize them.

Chen Hero's problem now is that he can't seize opportunities when he has them, and his ability to seize opportunities is still lacking. Don't look at how many goals he scores, it's because he has many opportunities. Whether it's at Zenit Saint Petersburg or Napoli, the whole team revolves around him, so he naturally gets more passes.

As a common problem for young players, he lacks experience, and at the same time, he is a little impatient when facing the goal, so he will miss some opportunities that seem to be very good.

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

Nevertheless, his goal rate is already terrifying. If he can correct this problem, and with the passage of time, his ability to seize opportunities in front of goal becomes stronger and stronger, what will he be like?

It's really scary and expectant...

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

At a critical moment, Lisbon Sporting burst out with great energy at their home stadium, and they equalized the score in the eighty-first minute.

Then Mazzarri replaced Chen Hero and Cassano with Zalayeta and Cigarini. He was already very satisfied with the score. A draw away from home is a victory, not to mention that his team also got two away goals.

Neither side scored again.

The game ended 2:2.

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

Back at their home stadium, the pressure would be much less. It could even be said that Napoli was only one step away from the Champions League group stage.

The whole of Naples was plunged into a frenzy of passion, and it lasted for several days.

It had been nineteen years since Napoli had participated in the Champions League. The last time they participated in the Champions League was in the Maradona era of the 1990-1991 season, when Napoli reached the second round of the Champions League. But with Maradona being found to be taking drugs, Napoli also collapsed.

They have never participated in the Champions League since then.

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

But who doesn't want to perform on the biggest and best stage?

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Back in Naples, the team continued to prepare for the new season, while also preparing for the second leg of the Champions League qualifiers.

There are still many problems to be solved, such as the team's defense. Ranocchia has just recovered from his injury and hasn't been back for long. His physical condition is not at its best, and as a new player joining the team, his cooperation with his teammates is not yet tacit.

Besides, Napoli has insisted on a three-back tactical system for several years. Suddenly letting them play with four defenders and two center-backs is a bit unfamiliar to them...

These all need to be adjusted.

But no matter how you adjust, you must first win the game.

And the Serie A league is about to begin.

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

Napoli, who were focused on the Champions League qualifiers, seemed a little absent-minded in this game. In addition, Mazzarri deliberately made rotations - the team will have to fight on multiple fronts this season, and he has to see if the rotation approach works, and also let these players adapt to the rotation in advance.

As a result, Napoli lost to Palermo 1:2 away from home.

Chen Hero, 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.

The team's first goal of the season was scored by captain Paolo Cannavaro, who used his header to break through Palermo's goal in a corner kick tactic.

The team suffered a defeat the first time they used rotation, and it seems that the team is still very unaccustomed to rotation.

But it doesn't matter, everything needs a process of adaptation. The loss in this game will not shake Napoli coach Mazzarri's determination to continue experimenting with rotation. Rotation is almost inevitable, because he cannot rely on only one lineup to conquer the world.

It is best for the players to adapt, and if they don't adapt, they have to adapt.

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On August 26, Napoli welcomed Lisbon Sporting to their home stadium.

For the people of Naples, only these ninety minutes are left before the Champions League group stage. But for Lisbon Sporting, this is their last chance to turn the tables.

Despite the slim hope, they will do their best.

So this game entered a fast pace from the beginning.

Both sides went back and forth in a wide-open manner.

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

Chen Hero still did not score, but he had one assist.

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

Cassano also scored his first official goal since joining Napoli.

However, Mazzarri was still very angry that Lisbon Sporting scored two goals away from home.

In the post-match press conference, he said: "Fortunately we won, fortunately our attack was strong enough, otherwise I really can't imagine what this game would have become..."

After the game, the news media also said that although Napoli successfully advanced to the Champions League group stage, the process was really thrilling.

"...In just two rounds of qualifying, Napoli played ups and downs. Facing the mediocre Lisbon Sporting, they conceded a total of four goals. With such a defense, if they go to the Champions League group stage, I don't know how much money they will leak. So I think it's a problem for Napoli to qualify from the group..."

"Ranocchia's arrival did not immediately change the problem of Napoli's defense. He still seemed a little rusty on the field. He spent the first half of the year recovering from injuries, and his condition still needs to be found slowly... Paolo Cannavaro is struggling alone, and Napoli is not very adapted to the four-defender system..."

The media were all filled with worried voices.

However, they had nothing to criticize about Napoli's attack. The only problem was that Chen Hero had not scored yet.

But this is not uncommon, after all, Chen Hero has such characteristics - he will always suddenly explode for a while, and then fall into a inexplicable goal 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 explosiveness, but have insufficient endurance...

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