Chapter 1 The End

Chen Yingxiong did not return to the locker room; he stood at the entrance of the players' tunnel and continued to watch the game.

The television broadcast frequently cut to his face.

After the chaos, the game restarted, and it was clear that Chen Yingxiong's red card had had a significant impact on the team.

It made the players more anxious and irritable.

Now, as long as the referee made a call that was unfavorable to Napoli, they would yell at him. With all their energy focused on arguing with the referee, how could they play well?

Besides... even if they put all their energy into the game, the odds were already against them.

Without Chen Yingxiong, they couldn't put continuous pressure on Barcelona's offense. At the same time, De Jong and Ranocchia, with yellow cards hanging over their heads, were hesitant in their defense.

It was obvious that after the game restarted, De Jong's defensive intensity against Messi dropped by two levels. How did De Jong defend Messi before? Close marking, relentless physical collisions, fierce tackles from the side or even behind, and even using fouls when necessary. These defensive actions made Messi suffer.

But now? Facing Messi's breakthrough, De Jong, afraid of getting a second yellow card, could only choose... to defend with his eyes.

This level of defense was practically no defense at all for Messi.

He used a change of direction to nimbly get past De Jong, then accelerated and dribbled the ball away, leaving De Jong to eat his dust.

Once Messi came alive, so did Barcelona.

Messi, liberated before the end of the first half, staged a brilliant play, dribbling past four players to score a goal. He started his straight-line dribble near the center circle, overcoming obstacles all the way, breaking into the penalty area and shooting low, the ball flying into the bottom corner. All the way, the Napoli players could only defend with their eyes. They dared not extend their feet once they got close to Messi, while simultaneously raising their arms to signal to the referee that they had absolutely not committed a foul.

There were no fouls, but there was no defense either.

With that kind of defense, Messi could dodge them with a slight flick of the ball.

Seeing Messi score and once again take the lead over Napoli in aggregate score, Chen Yingxiong punched the wall of the players' tunnel.

The boos in the Stadio San Paolo grew louder.

Amidst the boos, Messi embraced his teammates with a smile.

The Napoli players looked dejected, their heads hanging low.

Those Napoli players who had been dribbled past by Messi were even more furious, waving their arms in protest.

De Jong was particularly frustrated. If he didn't have that yellow card, he would have brought down the Argentine little guy at the start. Even if it was a foul in that position, it would have been just a yellow card at most. But he already had a yellow card, so he was hesitant and dared not make a move.

※※※

The game made Mazzarri and Chen Yingxiong increasingly displeased and angry.

If Chen Yingxiong were still on the field, would the game have become so one-sided so quickly?

If Chen Yingxiong were still on the field, he could have suppressed Barcelona's defense in attack, preventing them from pressing forward so easily. Look at now, Alves is almost an attacking winger who doesn't need to track back!

That despicable little man!

Now, every time he got the ball, the Stadio San Paolo would erupt in deafening boos, mixed with the curses of many Napoli fans, and many Napoli fans were giving him the middle finger. Unfortunately, the stands of the Stadio San Paolo were not those of a specialized football stadium that were close to the playing area, but rather of a comprehensive stadium with a running track.

So the stands were a bit far from the playing area, otherwise, Alves, who was always active on the sidelines, would have definitely heard the Napoli fans' greetings to his mother and his entire family.

※※※

Actually, for Chen Yingxiong, this game had ended when he was sent off. For many Napoli supporters, it was the same.

Barcelona completely controlled the initiative on the field, making full use of their technique and understanding to keep the ball firmly at their feet.

Napoli could only be led by the nose.

But Chen Yingxiong didn't leave; he remained standing on the sidelines, watching Messi score twice, watching Messi complete his hat trick, watching his team get slaughtered by Barcelona in their own stadium.

Similarly, not a single Napoli fan left, even though Napoli was already trailing 3:6 on aggregate. They were still cheering for every ball possession by the Napoli players, and sending fierce and relentless boos to the Barcelona players.

In other teams' stadiums, when the home team was already two goals behind and there were less than fifteen minutes left in the game, the home fans would choose to leave early, because there was no need to watch the game anymore.

But in the Stadio San Paolo, the Napoli fans were still persevering.

Aurelio De Laurentiis sat in the president's box, with the team's general manager, Bigon, sitting next to him.

Before, when Chen Yingxiong was sent off, the president was very angry, he stood up from his seat, like a fan, and shouted down below: "You son of a bitch referee!"

Fortunately, the president of Barcelona was not sitting next to him, and no outsiders heard his passionate scolding...

Now the score on the field was 1:3, Napoli, playing at home, were two goals behind, and three goals behind on aggregate, 3:6.

But De Laurentiis was no longer angry, he said to Bigon next to him: "I am proud of our fans, I think this game will become a new symbol of Napoli's rise."

Losing a game and still being able to treat it as a symbol of rise, I'm afraid only the eccentric old man De Laurentiis could do that.

But Bigon also agreed, he nodded: "Not a single person left early, Aurelio. Napoli fans are the most loyal fans in the world. It's just a pity... we should have gone further..."

De Laurentiis snorted: "Next year, no... next season, we will come back stronger. Just like Yingxiong said to Cassano, we Napoli will never kneel down and beg for mercy from fate!"

※※※

Chen Yingxiong stood at the entrance of the tunnel, witnessing the whole process of his team going from having an advantage to collapsing.

He just stood there, not turning around to go back to the locker room. Together with the 60,000 Napoli fans, he persevered to the end, and heard the three whistles.

"The game is over! After a dramatic fifteen minutes, Barcelona finally completed a great逆转 (nìzhuǎn - reversal) on the road, they defeated Napoli 3:1, and eliminated their opponents 6:3 on aggregate, advancing to the semi-finals!"

At first, the television broadcast was still giving shots of the players on the field. In the shots, the Barcelona players were cheering and celebrating, while the Napoli players were sad and dejected. Some even knelt on the ground and cried out loud.

Their anger had been worn away during the seventy-five minutes of the game, and now only sadness remained.

But some hadn't.

The television broadcast's camera shook for a moment, then suddenly cut to the sidelines. There, where the fourth official and the referees were, Chen Yingxiong, who had been sent off, rushed to the fourth official and pointed his finger at his nose, shouting in English: "You don't deserve to wear this uniform! You don't deserve to be a referee! You are a bunch of sons of bitches!! Fuck!"

Chen Yingxiong, who had been watching the team's crushing defeat from the sidelines, finally couldn't hold back the anger in his heart, and rushed up to question the referees as soon as the game ended.

He was blocked, and the person blocking him was Napoli's assistant coach, Viviani. "Don't be impulsive, Yingxiong! Calm down!!" He was afraid that UEFA would give Chen Yingxiong some additional punishment after the game, and that would be a big loss...

The referees were expressionless, but the Barcelona coaching staff and substitutes on the sidelines erupted first.

Barcelona's assistant coach, Vilanova, cursed at Chen Yingxiong: "You still have the face to come back? You butcher! Executioner! Look at what you did to Busquets!" As if afraid that Chen Yingxiong wouldn't understand, Vilanova used English.

Chen Yingxiong quickly shifted his firepower: "He asked for it himself, idiot! I want to ask you, do you have the face to accept this victory? Are you really embarrassed to cheer and celebrate? Your skin is thicker than the fucking earth's crust!"

How could Vilanova stand such insults? He pounced on Chen Yingxiong, wanting to fight.

Of course, Chen Yingxiong wasn't afraid of him.

However, the two sides didn't actually make contact, because there were many people between them, and they couldn't pounce on each other at all.

They could only curse at each other across the crowd.

Mazzarri also came to join in the fun, shouting from the stands: "Viviani! Viviani!" He was calling for his assistant coach.

When Viviani heard his call and turned to look at him, he waved his hand repeatedly: "Don't fucking represent me and shake hands with them!"

Viviani said loudly to him: "Look at this chaotic situation, I don't even have a chance to shake hands with them, don't worry!"

The scene was indeed a mess...

So much so that the referee wished he could split himself into multiple bodies to put out the fires everywhere.

In addition to the conflict on the sidelines, there was also conflict on the field.

After the game ended, Santacroce rushed onto the field directly to make trouble for his Brazilian compatriot, Alves.

He shouted at Alves: "You are a clown! You have disgraced us Brazilians! You are too despicable! A diving liar!"

Alves was originally celebrating the victory with his teammates. Hearing Santacroce's rebuke, his expression changed drastically. He turned to Santacroce and roared: "Who the fuck are you? What right do you have to accuse me?"

Seeing that the two sides were about to collide, people from both sides quickly came over to pull them apart, but this also triggered a new round of conflict.

Arshavin shouted towards Barcelona in the crowd: "You don't deserve to win this game! You don't deserve to advance to the semi-finals! You don't deserve to be called 'Barcelona'!!"

He was a standard Barcelona fan. When he transferred before, he dreamed of going to Camp Nou and playing for Barcelona. But now he couldn't care less about his previous feelings for this team.

※※※

The players were clashing on the sidelines and on the field, and the fans were also venting their anger and resentment in the stands. They tore down the seats in the stands, threw them down, and then attacked some Barcelona fans, setting fire to the seats and Barcelona's team flags. Finally, the police were dispatched, wielding batons and shields, and using tear gas to disperse the rioting Napoli extremist fans. Nevertheless, there were injuries, several Barcelona fans were hit, with blood flowing from their faces, looking very terrifying.

The entire Stadio San Paolo was filled with smoke...

A normal Champions League game unexpectedly evolved into this. This was probably something that Alves, who decided to feign injury and frame Chen Yingxiong, had not anticipated.

But all of this had nothing to do with him, because his team advanced to the semi-finals and eliminated Napoli.

This was the result he wanted.