Chapter 135 "Go, Old Gun!"

"Go, Old Gun!"

That was the banner hanging in the stands of the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

It was brought by the Udinese fans who had come to support their captain.

In the last game of the 2009-2010 season, Udinese was playing Lazio away, and their fans were using this banner to cheer on Di Natale.

Born in 1977, Di Natale was indeed an "old gun."

At almost thirty-three years old, he was now the closest he had ever been to being the Serie A top scorer.

Udinese had no worries about relegation this season, and no hope of European competition. For the "Little Zebras" fans, their captain's personal honor was the only thing that concerned them.

At thirty-two years old, he would be thirty-three next season. Who knew how much form he would have left then? If he didn't win a Serie A Golden Boot this season, perhaps there would be no hope for him in this lifetime.

Di Natale's performance this season had been so outstanding. He had been fearless in the face of strong opponents, and he had been closely chasing Chen Hero in the scorer rankings.

Therefore, even the commentator for this game was cheering him on.

"I'm not an Udinese fan, and I'm not a Di Natale fan. But in today's game, I want to cheer for this veteran. I don't hide my thoughts at all—I hope Di Natale can win the league's top scorer award! Go, Old Gun!"

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At the same time, on another field, Napoli was playing against Sampdoria.

Before this game, Cassano, who had already been discharged from the hospital, brought his fiancée Carolina—after his heart condition, Carolina had been promoted from "girlfriend" to "fiancée"—to Sampdoria's home stadium, the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, and naturally received cheers from both sets of fans.

Cassano's heart condition wasn't all bad. At the very least, many people in the country had changed their opinion of him, and he himself had figured some things out.

Cassano appeared in the stands, waving to everyone to thank them for their concern.

But once the game started, he still had to cheer for Napoli.

In fact, before this game, Napoli had already secured a top-four spot in Serie A, earning a Champions League qualification for next season. The only suspense was whether they would finish fourth or third—Mazzarri of course wanted fourth, not third. The reasons for this had already been mentioned.

Sampdoria was currently ranked fifth. Originally, this game should have been Sampdoria's all-out effort to drag Napoli down and catapult themselves into fourth place in the league, but now it didn't matter anymore. Because before this game, Sampdoria had sixty-four points, while Napoli had sixty-nine, a difference of five points. The outcome of this game was completely irrelevant.

So in a sense, Mazzarri even wanted the team to lose the game, so that regardless of what happened with AC Milan, Napoli could ensure they finished fourth in the league.

It wouldn't be difficult to do this. Mazzarri could easily achieve this goal by sending out a bunch of second-team substitutes. But Mazzarri didn't do this, and he didn't even reveal his true thoughts to the players.

Because he already knew very well that the reason this team was able to face opponents like Real Madrid and Barcelona this season without fear was because they had found their former fearless spirit.

This kind of spirit was the most precious thing. This spirit could only be encouraged, but never suppressed. Otherwise, once you did that, the players would begin to doubt the beliefs they had previously held, and you would never be able to instill this spirit into the team again.

Therefore, Mazzarri was determined. Even if the team "unfortunately" finished third in the league and Chen Hero had to wait until the quarter-finals to return, he would have to accept this reality. And he would have to reaffirm this belief to the players—even without Chen Hero, we can still make it to the quarter-finals!

So Mazzarri sent out a full-strength lineup for this game.

After all, even if the team didn't care about the result, Chen Hero still cared about the honor of being the league's top scorer. Udinese would definitely be helping Di Natale score in that game, so Napoli couldn't just not help Chen Hero.

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"Udinese is organizing an attack in the frontcourt… Antonio Di Natale! He received a pass from his teammate! Di Natale! Di Natale! Di Natale—" As the commentator's speed increased, everyone knew that the ball had reached a very dangerous area.

Yes, Di Natale had dribbled the ball to the edge of the penalty area, within shooting range!

Di Natale made a feint as if he were going to shoot from long range, tricking the Lazio defender into losing his balance. Then he moved the ball to the side and entered the penalty area!

"He's in!!" the commentator shouted.

The Udinese fans in the stands erupted in huge cheers, while the Lazio fans booed the intruder.

After breaking into the penalty area, Di Natale did not continue to dribble, but suddenly shot!

This shot was very sudden, and the angle was very tricky, fully demonstrating why Di Natale was able to closely follow Chen Hero in the scorer rankings this season—shooting skills!

His shooting skills were much more refined than Chen Hero's…

Lazio goalkeeper Marchetti made a save, but was unable to stop the tricky shot.

The ball flew into the goal, almost grazing the post!

"Ooh… ooh ooh ooh!!" the commentator shouted excitedly, as if he had been brewing for a long time, just waiting for this moment to explode.

"Di Natale has scored his twenty-eighth goal of the season! Twenty-eight goals! He has tied Chen Hero in the scorer rankings! The Napoli striker has not scored yet!"

Di Natale was very excited after scoring, but his teammates were even more excited. They ran to the sidelines and tackled their captain to the ground, and then everyone else piled on top of him.

"It seems like the scene from a year ago is being replayed, with the person who was behind becoming the pursuer! Only this time, Hero's role has been reversed, from pursuer to being pursued! Will the final result be the same?"

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The battle for the top scorer award was, after all, not as intense and important as the fight for the league title. If Napoli were competing with Udinese for the league title, Di Natale's goal would have been enough to elicit huge boos from the Napoli fans at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

But now, Napoli's fans were not going to boo wildly in the stands just because Di Natale had scored a goal and tied Chen Hero.

Therefore, Chen Hero did not know that Di Natale had already scored.

He didn't care about that either.

It didn't matter who the opponent was, because he was the leader, and all he had to do was keep scoring goals to ensure that he remained in the lead.

To put it simply, it was—I want to score!

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The excitement of the Udinese fans did not last long. Although they took the lead away from home, it was still an away game after all. Lazio quickly responded, and they equalized the score four minutes later, with Rocchi scoring the goal.

Actually, the result of this game didn't matter to Udinese, and it didn't matter to Lazio either. No matter what the result of this game was, it wouldn't affect either team. They wouldn't be relegated because of losing, and they wouldn't advance to European competition because of winning.

A game with nothing to gain or lose seemed quite suitable for scoring goals?

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"The first half has started for thirty minutes, and Hero has already had four shots on goal, while Napoli has only had six shots on goal in total in these thirty minutes… Hero's desire to shoot is very strong, no matter where he is, as long as the ball is at his feet, he'll take a shot… On another field, Di Natale has already scored his twenty-eighth goal of the season, temporarily tying Chen Hero…"

Liu Jianhong from CCTV was chattering about the current situation, expressing concern for Chen Hero, fearing that he was too selfish and too eager to score, which would not only prevent him from scoring, but also offend his teammates—such examples were not uncommon.

But just as he was saying this, Chen Hero was seen receiving the ball outside the penalty area with his back to the direction of the attack, and then, without waiting for the Sampdoria defender to close in, he quickly flicked the ball away, completing a turn.

Chen Hero, having turned around, made slight adjustments to the ball, and then swung his thick right leg.

A powerful long shot!

Like his header, this was his signature move, but in terms of fame, it was not as well-known as his header. Many people, seeing Chen Hero's height, would naturally associate him with "aerial dominance," but would not naturally associate him with "heavy artillery."

But in terms of power… these two weapons were equally matched!

The ball shot by Chen Hero was like a shell fired from a cannon, drawing a faint arc in the air, successfully bypassing the defenders in the penalty area!

Then… it directly pierced through the Sampdoria goalkeeper's gloves!

Liu Jianhong, who was chattering away, didn't react for a moment. Watching the ball fly into the net, he was stunned for more than two seconds.

"Eh? The ball, the ball is in! The ball is in!! In, in, in, in, in, in!! The ball! Is in—so beautiful!" After reacting, he used his continuous "in" style commentary to shout.

Unlike him, his Italian counterparts were much more focused, and did not put too much energy into worrying about Chen Hero during this attack.

When they saw Chen Hero blasting the ball into Sampdoria's goal, they shouted loudly: "goooooooooooooooooooL!!!"

"Hero! Hero! The Hero of Napoli! His long shot! It's truly amazing!"

"Twenty-ninth goal, twenty-ninth goal! Di Natale had just tied him, and now he has widened the gap between the two of them back to one goal! Chen Hero continues to lead the scorer rankings alone!"

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ps, The first update is here. It's the middle of the month, so I'm asking everyone for monthly votes!