Chapter 1 Chen Hero

Chen Hero was asked to stay behind by Mazzarri for a talk after training.

They didn't have many private exchanges. This was odd, considering Chen Hero was definitely not the kind of player who wouldn't cause the head coach any worries.

But that was the truth. After Mazzarri came to the team, he rarely sought Chen Hero out for private talks. This stemmed from his clear understanding of Chen Hero's characteristics, and he had a very clear idea of what Chen Hero's role was.

Which was that no matter how many nightclubs he went to, no matter how much controversy there was surrounding his private life, no matter how arrogant and flamboyant his personality was, none of that had anything to do with him as the head coach. What did matter?

Goals.

As long as Chen Hero could score goals, even if he robbed a bank, it had nothing to do with him, and he wouldn't interfere.

At first glance, this approach seemed to be one of laissez-faire, bordering on irresponsibility. But for Chen Hero, it was actually the best approach.

Mazzarri gave him ample freedom, which put him in a good mood, which improved his performance on the field, and the goals came one after another.

That was enough. As a player, a center forward whose mission was to score goals, what more could you ask of him? To be a hero on the field and a paragon of virtue off the field? That wasn't Chen Hero, that was Chen Saint.

Anyway, his going to bars, nightclubs, picking up girls, fighting, and causing trouble didn't affect his normal training and matches, nor did it affect his form. So why should he, as the head coach, be so controlling?

Because he held this belief, Mazzarri and Chen Hero got along well and cooperated smoothly. Chen Hero made Mazzarri worry-free on the field, so naturally he wouldn't seek Chen Hero out for private talks for no reason.

Therefore, this sudden request for a private talk with Chen Hero surprised not only the players, but even Chen Hero himself.

His first thought was—the boss must have told the head coach about his impending departure from Napoli. Was Mazzarri here to persuade him to stay?

But unexpectedly, Mazzarri spoke of something else entirely.

"I went to the draw ceremony, as you know."

Chen Hero nodded.

"The draw results are out. What do you think?"

"Lyon is good. We have a psychological advantage over them."

Chen Hero replied, still feeling puzzled. What did this have to do with him? Encountering an opponent, having opinions about the opponent, that was the coaches' job, so why ask him?

"You said you wanted to defend your title as the Champions League's top scorer this season. How confident are you?" Mazzarri asked.

"I don't know, Coach."

"You don't know?"

"Yes, I don't know. Because the matches haven't started yet... But as long as I score in every match, I think it should be about right, right?"

Seeing Chen Hero speaking so casually, Mazzarri had to remind him who his opponents were. "Eto'o has seven goals, Gomez has six goals, and Messi also has six goals..."

"Isn't Inter Milan going to face Bayern Munich in the round of sixteen?"

So he has been studying them... Mazzarri thought to himself. "Messi is very strong."

Chen Hero snorted, clearly not taking Messi seriously. "Coach, do you know why I was scoring like crazy in the league in the first half of the season?"

Mazzarri frowned and thought for a moment: "Could it be..."

"That's right, in the second half of the season, I'm going to shift my focus to the Champions League. I'm going to show them how scary a starving bear can be!"

Chen Hero slammed his fist into his palm.

"It's good that you have this confidence. Do you know? After the draw, I was surrounded by reporters, and they all expressed doubts about your ability to defend your title as the Champions League's top scorer."

Chen Hero rolled his eyes: "Mortals."

"So I decided to help you defend your title as top scorer, and support you tactically. Since you have this confidence, that's good."

Only then did Chen Hero understand, so that was what this was about...

He laughed: "Thank you, Coach!"

Mazzarri could tell that Chen Hero was mostly confident in himself. He probably hadn't even considered the tactical factors.

On the way home, Chen Hero was still thinking about his conversation with Head Coach Mazzarri. So it turned out those reporters looked down on him.

But whatever, he was someone who liked to slap people in the face the most. And he wouldn't slap anyone unless they offered their face. Since you all took the initiative to offer your faces, how could he disappoint everyone's good intentions?

※※※

After the draw, the Champions League entered a winter break, and would not resume until February of the following year.

Everyone's focus temporarily returned to the domestic league.

After the draw ceremony, there were two league matches left in Serie A.

In both matches, Napoli defeated their opponents with the same score of 1-0.

First, they defeated Genoa 1-0 away, and then they defeated Lecce 1-0 at home. Chen Hero scored a goal in the match against Lecce.

Before the season was even halfway over, he had already scored nineteen goals.

And he scored a total of forty-three goals in the entire 2010, ranking third in European football.

Second place was Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored forty-five goals.

His rival in the Champions League top scorer race, Messi, ultimately scored sixty-two goals, rightfully earning the title of the world's number one player.

The Catalan media used this to mock Chen Hero, saying that wanting to compete with Messi for the top scorer title was simply wishful thinking.

Since that incident last year, all of Catalonia had regarded Chen Hero as an enemy. As long as they had the opportunity, they would never forget to strike him down.

However, the Catalan media's influence was limited and could not penetrate into Naples, so Chen Hero was unaware of the Catalan media's mockery of him, unless a reporter ran to his door to tell him...

※※※

After finishing all the matches of 2010, Chen Hero embarked on his journey home.

This was the first time he had returned to China for the Christmas holidays. In previous years, he hadn't been able to go back due to time constraints.

This time, it was still related to his father.

The clothing company invested in by him and managed by his father, Chen Tao, had been officially established after more than half a year of preparation. It was named "hero". The brand logo was a silhouette of a tough guy's profile. From this logo, it was clear that this was a clothing company specializing in men's clothing, and it didn't follow the hip-hop or trendy style, but rather a more hardcore style.

On this joyous occasion, as a son, of course he had to go back and support his father.

Moreover, he was not only the investor and the big boss behind "hero", but also the brand's spokesperson. The term of endorsement was naturally unlimited, and he didn't charge the company a single cent of endorsement fee.

As a spokesperson, he also had to come back to help out.

The first shot of his own brand had to be a success, and the louder the better.

Sure enough, his arrival, even without special promotion, attracted many media outlets.

In terms of influence alone, he was now the most successful athlete in China. It could be said that even if he farted, many people would pay attention, and some would even analyze whether the fart was loud or stinky, and what it meant...

To put it bluntly, Chen Hero had reached the point where even if he did nothing, there would be a large group of people praising him.

This was equivalent to helping him promote the "hero" brand.

However, the reporters who came to interview him asked the most questions related to the Chinese national team.

"Are you willing to serve the country?"

"Why haven't you joined the national team yet?"

"What are your thoughts on the Chinese team's Asian Cup journey, Hero?"

"Your conflict with the Chinese Football Association..."

...

And so on, and so forth.

Chen Hero kicked the ball out: "I don't have any conflict with the Football Association, right? The people who had personal grudges with me have all been locked up, so that fully illustrates that those who offend me don't have a good ending, hahaha!... As for the national team, it's not up to me, you should go ask the General Administration of Sport and the Football Association. The Asian Cup? I wish the national team good luck."

He would no longer discuss these issues.

Of course, he knew that many people wanted him to go to the national team, but what he said was also true, it was not up to him, nor was it up to those fans and the media.

※※※

Chen Hero came and went in a hurry. He only stayed in China for four days before returning to Italy.

Then he locked himself in his room and continued to grind levels.

Until the team reassembled and began training.

The second half of the season had begun, and his new journey had also begun.

※※※

In previous years, December was a month of frequent awards in international football, a season of harvest for players.

But this year was different. Because the FIFA World Player of the Year and the European Ballon d'Or were merged, the newly launched FIFA Ballon d'Or was moved to January of the following year. December was only the announcement of some nominees. Many people were speculating about who would win this year's Ballon d'Or.

Chen Hero entered the fifty-person candidate list for this award, but ultimately his ranking was only twenty-ninth. A large portion of these twenty-ninth place votes came from professional sports journalists, rather than national team coaches and captains.

2010 was a year of major tournaments, the World Cup had a wide impact, and Chen Hero didn't have any national team matches, so naturally he couldn't gain any advantage in the voting.

Currently, the final three-person shortlist has been released, namely Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta. This result surprised some people, because they believed that Sneijder, who led the Dutch national team to the final of the South Africa World Cup and led Inter Milan to win the treble, should obviously occupy a place in these three candidate lists.

Unfortunately, he was not included, and instead, Barcelona players swept the top three.

The media generally believed that Xavi or Iniesta should be able to win the Ballon d'Or with their outstanding performance at the World Cup. After all, although Messi scored sixty-two goals in a year, without winning the Champions League or the World Cup, his disadvantage was obvious...

But the final result was shocking. Because Messi won the first FIFA Ballon d'Or again...

When Messi went on stage to accept the award, even he himself was surprised.

After the awards ceremony, UEFA President Platini expressed his dissatisfaction with the result, believing that Xavi was more deserving of the Ballon d'Or than Messi.

Of course, this was not to say that he didn't love Messi, in fact, this dissatisfaction was only for his personal political purposes - for a long time, UEFA's official selection of the best player was far less influential than the European Ballon d'Or, and he had long coveted the opportunity to have UEFA's selection replace the European Ballon d'Or selection, and now, his opportunity had come...

Messi's unexpected election made the public opinion also in an uproar. Because in the past year, apart from scoring more goals, Messi really lacked any convincing achievements to become the world's number one player. Even his own teammate Xavi was not very satisfied with this result: "The selection method is unfair, it is based on the fact that the voting weight of Senegal, Fiji and France, England, and Germany is the same, and obviously not every place has the same information."

It was under such circumstances that Platini planned to revive the European Ballon d'Or selection. In order to achieve the purpose of competing with FIFA's Blatter in the world football.

Due to Messi's election, the selection defects of the FIFA Ballon d'Or were further exposed, so his revival of the European Ballon d'Or also had sufficient public and public opinion foundation. Platini's expression of dissatisfaction was only to make himself "justified" and occupy the moral high ground.

It can be seen from his quick announcement that UEFA will conduct the selection of the best player in Europe. This selection will inherit the selection spirit of "European Ballon d'Or" of *France Football*, and professional sports media will be the main body of the selection. According to UEFA's plan, the new "European Ballon d'Or" will start from the 2011-2012 season, and is expected to conduct the first selection in August 2012.

Regardless of whether the FIFA Ballon d'Or selection result is fair or not, Messi's supporters are most satisfied with this result.

It's just that when reporting Messi's election as the World Footballer of the Year for two consecutive years, Chen Hero was shot again.

"That Chinese guy said he wanted to compete with the World Footballer for the top scorer? Messi is the Ballon d'Or winner, what is his ranking? Twenty-ninth! This is the gap between him and Messi!"

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ps, It's February! Ask everyone for a guaranteed monthly ticket!