Chapter 1 Excitement and Worry

Securing a Champions League group stage qualification was incredibly exciting. While the rest of Italy's media worried about Napoli's prospects in the Champions League this season, the local Neapolitan media were ecstatic.

They praised it as an amazing breakthrough, a new chapter in Napoli's football history, a great day.

The fans were even more so. When they defeated Sporting Lisbon at home to qualify for the group stage, many fans even brought out portraits of Maradona to thank him for blessing the team...

Of course, Chen Hero himself dismissed this, Maradona wasn't even dead yet...

There's no need to dwell on the Neapolitan fans' celebrations. For the Napoli players, they couldn't afford to indulge in the joy of entering the Champions League group stage.

Because before training the next day, coach Mazzarri had already warned everyone not to be happy with such minor achievements.

"...There's really nothing to be happy about. On the contrary, you should be frowning. Because we have stepped onto a stage that is more difficult than any competition you have experienced before. The European Champions League, guys! This is not comparable to any domestic Italian league. Here, it will be very difficult for us to even get out of the group stage, let alone the round of sixteen or the quarterfinals. And entering the Champions League means that we will have to split our attention between two fronts in the upcoming new season—at least until the winter break. As for whether it will be like this after the winter break, that depends on your performance. At the same time, fighting on two fronts is a rare experience for us, but I'm not sure if you're ready."

Last season's UEFA Cup, those Napoli players who had been overjoyed at the prospect of participating in the Champions League, ended up being doused with cold water.

They were eliminated in the group stage.

This greatly disappointed many Napoli fans.

So, it's normal for many people to worry that Napoli will repeat the same mistakes this season. Even the coach himself is worried...

This was completely forced growth. He hadn't originally planned to directly challenge the Champions League this season, but if it hadn't been for…the team's momentum being too strong in the final stage of last season…

He was worried that the players couldn't handle playing on two fronts. Dealing with a UEFA Cup was already a disaster, so what would happen when facing the higher-level, more intense Champions League?

To be honest, as a coach, he really wasn't confident.

Napoli hadn't participated in the Champions League for nineteen years. The last time they participated, the Champions League was still called the European Cup…

"So, in order to prepare you fully, every day of training from now on will make you experience...a living hell!"

The players exclaimed in surprise, knowing that the good times were over...

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For Sanchez, Zalayeta, Zuniga, Contini, and Pazienza, they could indeed feel the taste of "a living hell"...

While the team was enthusiastically preparing for the second round of the new season's league and the Champions League group stage, they could only be found in the gym and physiotherapy room. Because they were injured...

They were members of the team's injury list. This list initially had only Sanchez, but then other names were added one after another, and Sanchez had new companions.

These people were basically injured during training. Mazzarri's training intensity was very high, and some couldn't handle it and got injured.

But Mazzarri didn't stop his training plan. He knew that high-intensity training was necessary at the beginning of the season, because only in this way could the players have enough physical reserves. If the pre-season training was too easy, it would cause everyone to start showing signs of insufficient physical fitness around the winter break. Not only would the team's performance decline, but many people would also greatly increase their chances of getting injured.

This was experience.

Every coach must be clear about the importance of pre-season training.

Last season, he took over the team mid-season, and the team's pre-season training plan was not set by him. This season, he was leading the team for pre-season preparations for the first time, so naturally he had to implement his own ideas.

High-intensity training was so that the team wouldn't drop the ball due to rapid exhaustion of physical fitness when fighting on two fronts later on.

If they were eliminated in the Champions League group stage and the domestic league fell into the relegation zone, it would be too tragic...

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While Napoli was actively preparing, the results of the Champions League group stage draw also came out.

Because Napoli was participating in the European Champions League for the first time in nineteen years, and their performance in the UEFA Cup last season was also very poor, their European points were very low, and they were listed as a fourth-tier team.

This meant that Napoli was very likely to be assigned to a group of death... At that time, they wouldn't even be able to get out of the group stage. The best result would be to get third place in the group and go to the UEFA Cup knockout stage.

But in the end, the result for Napoli was hard to say whether it was good or bad.

They were drawn into a group with Liverpool, Lyon, and Zenit Saint Petersburg…

This was not an absolute group of death, but the strength of the four teams felt similar, and it was normal for anyone to win or lose. Because of this, it made people feel that the qualifying situation in this group was a bit confusing.

There was also an interlude in the draw...

When Napoli's name was put on the big screen and appeared below Zenit Saint Petersburg, the television broadcast gave a close-up shot of Zenit Saint Petersburg's general manager, Sarsania. The director in charge of broadcasting the draw ceremony obviously knew European football very well, or at least paid close attention to Zenit Saint Petersburg.

This was the first time Chen Hero and Arshavin had met their old club since leaving Zenit. Unexpectedly, it was in the Champions League group stage.

Relying on the foundation of victory laid by Chen Hero's crazy goals in the first eleven rounds last season, Zenit Saint Petersburg, although their performance in the second half of the season was not as eye-catching as in the first half of the season, still maintained the league title. They won the league title for two consecutive seasons and once again qualified for the Champions League.

Although Zenit Saint Petersburg's performance in the European Champions League last season was not satisfactory, and they only got third place in the group, resulting in going to the UEFA Cup, it was also related to the departure of two absolute main players at once.

Relying on the Champions League points from last season, as well as the UEFA Cup title from the season before last and the UEFA Cup record from the season before that, Zenit Saint Petersburg was ranked as a third-tier team in this season's Champions League.

In this way, the two teams were assigned to the same group...

Chen Hero and Arshavin would have the opportunity to return to Petrovsky Stadium, where there were still fans who welcomed them.

It's just that the current Zenit Saint Petersburg was no longer the same.

The team's meritorious coach, Advocaat, was dismissed by the club on August 14 this year. His conflicts with the club had long existed. Initially, because of the departure of Chen Hero and Arshavin, he was dissatisfied with the club's senior management, believing that the club's senior management had not tried everything possible to keep these two core players, leading to the Champions League fiasco. And the club's senior management also blamed him for the Champions League failure...

At that time, the relationship between the club and Advocaat was already very bad. If it hadn't been for Advocaat leading the team to withstand the pursuit of Rubin Kazan and finally securing the league title, he would have been dismissed at that time.

Entering 2009, Zenit Saint Petersburg's performance in the domestic league was unsatisfactory. At the same time, in the summer, the team's captain and midfielder core, Tymoshchuk, was also sold to Bayern Munich by the club. This ignited the conflict between Advocaat and the club, causing a major explosion. In addition, Advocaat announced in advance that he planned to switch to coaching the Belgian national team in January next year, after his contract expired. This caused dissatisfaction among the club's senior management, who believed that Advocaat's move led to the team's morale being scattered, which was the main reason why the team's ranking in the league was currently poor. As a coach, he lacked the necessary professional ethics.

In this way, Advocaat was dismissed with half a year left on his contract...

So Chen Hero would not have the opportunity to compete with his mentor. Now Zenit was temporarily under the care of Anatoly Davydov, the former coach of Zenit's youth team.

Chen Hero still knew this caretaker coach. Although he didn't stay in Zenit's youth team for a long time, he naturally knew people he had to meet every day.

Davydov used to be Popovych's assistant. Later, after Popovych's contract expired last season, he left Zenit, and Davydov was promoted to the coach of the youth team.

When Advocaat came to Zenit to take office, he brought his own coaching staff. Now that he had been dismissed, there was no reason for his assistants to continue staying at the Zenit club, so even assistant coach Potter also left with him.

With no assistant coach and no coach, naturally they could only promote a coach from the youth team to be the temporary coach.

The two sides signed a temporary contract with a validity of half a year. In this half season, Davydov would serve as the team's coach.

Zenit, on the other hand, began to actively look for a new coach to replace Davydov.

Judging from Zenit's current situation, although they were the third-tier team in this group, they probably should be ranked in the fourth tier.

If Napoli wanted to qualify, they had to get enough six points from this team. In this way, Chen Hero and Arshavin would naturally not hold back when facing their old club.

As for Liverpool and Lyon, those were not easy opponents to deal with...

The results of the group stage draw were out. After nineteen years, Napoli's Champions League journey would officially begin on September 16.

Their first opponent in the group stage was Lyon. On September 16, they would go to the away game to challenge the former Ligue 1 powerhouse.

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