Chapter 31

March 28th, the thirty-first round of the league, Napoli's last league game before the Champions League quarter-finals.

Napoli ultimately won 1:0 against Catania at home, managing not to lose a league game again before the Champions League match and maintaining their fourth place in the league.

However, Chen Yingxiong didn't score in this game because he only got the chance to play in the last ten minutes. Mazzarri rotated the team again in this game.

Fortunately, Di Natale didn't continue to score either, so Chen Yingxiong still led the Serie A scorer list with twenty-one goals.

After this game, everyone's focus, whether it was the media, fans, players, club presidents, or coaches... everyone, shifted their attention to the Champions League.

The first leg of the European Champions League quarter-finals would officially kick off on March 30th. The match between Napoli and Barcelona was scheduled for the night of March 31st, with Napoli playing away.

In fact, preparations for the Champions League had already been made within the Napoli team after the game against Catania.

In the locker room after that game, Chen Yingxiong and Cassano reminded their teammates.

"Brothers, remember, no matter what the reporters ask, we must portray ourselves as the weaker side! Blow Barcelona up to be invincible, the higher the better... The higher we praise them, the harder they'll fall when we let go!"

Chen Yingxiong suddenly swung his arm down.

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When the draw results were first released, Napoli showed weakness, which made Barcelona feel very good.

But that was half a month ago. Since then, Napoli had defeated Juventus and Catania at home in succession, achieving two consecutive victories. What if their confidence had exploded due to their excellent performance in the league, and they wanted to fight Barcelona to the death at Camp Nou?

It was best to confirm what Napoli's mindset was now...

So when the entire Napoli team arrived in Barcelona, a group of Catalan media rushed up to ask the Napoli players. Asking just one person wasn't safe enough; all the most important players were asked.

"What are your chances of winning away against Barcelona?"

"Is there a lot of pressure playing at Camp Nou?"

"How does Napoli feel about meeting Barcelona in the quarter-finals?"

……

Especially Chen Yingxiong, who was famous for his big mouth, was the target of many reporters.

In the round of 16, Chen Yingxiong had defeated Real Madrid at the Bernabéu and casually stated that he didn't care if the opponent was Real Madrid or if they had any stars.

Everyone wanted to hear his opinion on Barcelona as an opponent.

Chen Yingxiong was stopped by a group of reporters at the airport exit. After listening to the questions asked by the reporters in English, he said with a serious face, "This is a very difficult game. Winning away is difficult, but I hope we can achieve satisfactory results..."

This answer was too ordinary and not strong enough. So the reporter asked again, "So, what do you think of the defending champion Barcelona?"

"I don't think they can be considered a team on the same level as Earth anymore!"

Chen Yingxiong's answer made the jaws of the reporters present drop... especially those from Italy and China. Everyone knew what kind of person Chen Yingxiong usually was. When had he ever admitted defeat?

But this was a sincere compliment...

Wait.

"Isn't this sarcasm? Yingxiong..." An Italian reporter asked with a surprised expression to confirm.

Chen Yingxiong shook his head, his expression particularly sincere: "I'm telling the truth. Barcelona is the strongest team right now. No team wants to meet them because... there's absolutely no way to defeat them. But!" He emphasized the "but," "But! Despite this, Napoli will still fight hard away from home!"

With that, he left.

Leaving behind a group of reporters with broken glasses on the floor.

"I'll go... is that really Chen Yingxiong?"

"He's been possessed by aliens, right?"

"When did he become a Barcelona fan?"

"But... what he said sounds reasonable..."

The reporters discussed, shocked but also feeling that what Chen Yingxiong said made sense and they couldn't find any fault with it.

Of course, the happiest were the reporters from the Catalan media.

What was more valuable than the opponent's flattery? Especially when the opponent praising Barcelona was Chen Yingxiong. He was the madman who dared to provoke Real Madrid at the Bernabéu!

For someone who didn't even give a damn about Real Madrid to submit to Barcelona, it made the Catalans feel even better.

Sure enough, the next day, a news item appeared in the local Barcelona newspaper:

《Hero: Barcelona is a Cosmic Team》

It vigorously hyped up Chen Yingxiong's praise of Barcelona. In fact, it was just that one sentence, but they managed to expand it into a news feature of more than two thousand words.

It wasn't just Chen Yingxiong. That day, the Barcelona media was full of news about how Napoli praised Barcelona and expressed "admiration" for Barcelona.

Cassano: "During my time with Real Madrid, Barcelona was always the opponent we least wanted to face."

Hamsik: "Xavi is my idol!"

Sanchez: "I hope to be able to play for Barcelona one day..."

Arshavin: "As everyone knows, I have always been a Barcelona fan."

Paolo Cannavaro: "Messi is the best in the world, it is almost impossible to defend him."

……

This was simply too flattering, too shameless, too lacking in integrity... So it stung someone's nerves.

"I can't imagine that these words came out of the mouths of Napoli players! This isn't the Napoli I played for. My Napoli back then would never have said such flattering things! I think this is a disgrace to Napoli!"

The person who said this was named Diego Armando Maradona.

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"Hey, Yingxiong... aren't we going too far with this? Look, even Diego is criticizing us now..." Within the team, everyone wasn't as calm as they appeared. They were worried.

Because Maradona was the only true god in the hearts of Napoli fans. Now that he had opposed them, who knew what kind of reaction it would provoke... Fans who didn't know the inside story would definitely be very unhappy with them too.

In fact, many Napoli fans didn't understand why their players would suddenly act so cowardly.

It was just that the team was in Barcelona and couldn't get the reaction of the Napoli fans right away. If this were at home, there would probably be people protesting at the Volturno Fort the next day...

Chen Yingxiong didn't expect the Catalan media to hype up their words so much, as if the Napoli players were all Barcelona's spies.

"Maradona? Didn't he play for Barcelona before?" Chen Yingxiong found it strange. "Why is he reacting so strongly to our words? I thought he had a good relationship with Barcelona..."

"Ahem." Paolo Cannavaro coughed and began to educate Chen Yingxiong, who had been in Napoli for more than a season but didn't know much about the Napoli god. "Diego played for Barcelona for three seasons, but he never completed any of them... In the first season, he was out for three months due to hepatitis. In the second season, he was out for three months due to a broken leg. In the third season, he was suspended for three months for fighting in the Copa del Rey final against Bilbao, which caused a brawl... And his relationship with the Barcelona president was said to be very bad. He left Barcelona for this reason... So he has no affection for Barcelona."

Chen Yingxiong suddenly understood: "So that's how it is... But, actually, this is pretty good. I don't think anyone will suspect us anymore..."

Now, he could only comfort his teammates like this.

※※※

Indeed, no one suspected they were acting. Instead, a group of people were fiercely criticizing them.

Especially the Catalan media's extensive promotion of their compliments stimulated Real Madrid.

Napoli, who had defeated them, was so humble in the face of Barcelona. It gave people the feeling that Real Madrid was not even as good as such a team, and being eliminated by such a team was simply a disgrace!

The Madrid media was full of mockery and disdain when talking about Napoli. They believed that Napoli could lose to Barcelona, but they couldn't go so low as to compliment their opponents! Who admits defeat before the game has even started?

Did they think that this would make Barcelona show mercy and not kill them?

It was simply wishful thinking!

Many Madrid media outlets had even listed Napoli as "the most shameless team of the year"...

In fact, to be honest, it wasn't just the Madrid media that looked down on Napoli, but also some Catalan media.

After all, football was a sport for real men, and being so subservient was really... inappropriate.

Barcelona certainly wanted to see people praise their team, but they also found this naked flattery a bit unbearable, thinking it was too much and too spineless.

Some media even took the opportunity to mock their arch-rivals Real Madrid: "...I simply can't imagine that Real Madrid would lose to such a team, hahahaha!"

This sound was really harsh to the ears of the Real Madrid people.

Unfortunately, they couldn't refute it because it was a fact that they had lost to this Napoli... It was too frustrating!

They had no choice but to transfer their hatred to Napoli, criticizing Napoli as a team without integrity, and even quoting Maradona's words.

In such a chaotic pre-match environment, Napoli stepped onto the grass of the Camp Nou stadium.

What greeted them was not friendly applause, but a burst of laughter.

This was of course because of Napoli's pre-match performance without limits...

Many Napoli players also found this laughter a bit harsh, and they lowered their heads.

Only Chen Yingxiong and Cassano, two idiots, held their heads high and faced the laughter with high spirits.

Laugh, laugh as much as you want!

The more you underestimate us, the happier we are!

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ps, there will be three updates tomorrow, and four updates the day after tomorrow~~~

I'll ask everyone for monthly tickets then~