Chapter 1 The Weather

On the day of the match, the first thing Mazzarri did when he got out of bed was rush to the window, pull back the curtains, and see what the weather was like outside.

It was gloomy, but there was no snow, only no wind... Because of the lack of reference objects, he couldn't see. There was snow on the ground and on the roofs, but there were no snowflakes falling like the previous two days.

He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little relieved.

If this weather continued, the match could still be played.

As long as the snow stopped, everything would be fine.

But it seemed that God was deliberately playing a joke on Mazzarri. In the afternoon, snowflakes suddenly started falling again from the sky!

Mazzarri looked up at the sky and couldn't help but curse.

The Napoli players were just as frustrated by the weather as he was.

When the Napoli players saw the Saint Petersburg Zenit fans on the side of the road, bare-chested, from the bus, their bodies couldn't help but tremble, and some even sneezed in sympathy...

The radio in the bus was playing a local Saint Petersburg program, and the host said excitedly, "God bless us! Snowflakes are falling again!"

Obviously, the bus driver was also a Saint Petersburg Zenit fan. He listened to the radio cheering for Zenit so nonchalantly, obviously because there were very few people in the Napoli team who could understand Russian.

After Chen Hero understood what the voice in the radio was all about, he rolled his eyes.

※※※

In the stands of Petrovsky Stadium, there were Saint Petersburg Zenit fans holding up signs with Chen Hero's name and portraits. These people still supported Chen Hero, even though he was no longer a member of Saint Petersburg Zenit. But the glory and joy he once brought to the Saint Petersburg Zenit fans was eternal.

When Chen Hero got the ball, there were no boos from the stands, and there were even some cheers.

For Chen Hero, who had been booed by the home fans for a whole year at Napoli's home stadium, it was rare to receive cheers from Zenit fans.

But he had no intention of enjoying such an honor, and he wasn't complacent about it.

His team was in trouble.

The match had been going on for twenty-five minutes, and Napoli was losing 0:1 away from home.

The person who scored for the home team was... Danny.

Portuguese player Danny was signed by Zenit after Arshavin left the team. He had just joined the team this summer. He was there to fill the core void in the team after Arshavin left.

Now he was gradually getting into shape and had gained the support and love of the Saint Petersburg Zenit fans.

Danny brought a goal to the team, which was a bit ironic for Arshavin—his successor performed well in the match and scored a goal, while his Napoli team performed poorly and was currently losing.

This match was really unlucky for Napoli from the start. Let's not talk about the pre-match stories, lest everyone say that I'm padding the word count. Just talking about the match itself—before the match, the coaching staff finally confirmed that Hamsik would not be able to play in this match, because Hamsik caught a cold on the first day he arrived in Saint Petersburg, and then the cold became more and more serious, and finally developed into a persistent high fever... He couldn't even walk steadily now, so don't even expect him to participate in the match.

So Hamsik was removed from the starting lineup at the last moment.

As for Christian Maggio, he was obviously frightened by the wind and snow in Saint Petersburg. His performance had been abnormal these past few days, and he performed even worse in the match.

As for that goal conceded... According to Chen Hero's understanding, it was completely an accident. Captain Paolo Cannavaro had already blocked Pogrebnyak's shot, but just as he was about to clear the ball with a big kick, he slipped and didn't kick the ball out. Instead, he poked it to Zenit's number ten, Danny, on the other side.

Facing such a great gift, the Portuguese player had no reason not to accept it.

He lifted his foot and shot, and the ball flew past the unprepared Napoli goalkeeper...

That's how the team fell behind.

After conceding the goal, Paolo Cannavaro patted the slippery spot under his feet very depressedly—the edge of the penalty area, which had become a muddy mess due to the fierce competition between the two sides.

Petrovsky Stadium is not an artificial turf stadium. They use natural turf. Three consecutive days of heavy snow have caused the turf to become very soft. Stepping on it is like ice skating, making it easy to slip and fall.

Western European teams who usually go to Moscow to play against CSKA or Spartak Moscow always complain about the artificial turf of Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, saying that they are very uncomfortable and that they lost the game entirely because they were playing on unfamiliar artificial turf.

But now, Mazzarri wished that he was playing on artificial turf!

※※※

"Napoli seems very unaccustomed to playing in such heavy wind and snow... They can't even control the ball well. Only two people in their team are performing normally, one is Arshavin, and the other is Hero. Both of them used to play for Saint Petersburg Zenit, and they are more adapted to the weather in Saint Petersburg at this time..."

Arshavin was breaking through on the wing, looking for a chance to pass the ball, but it was useless for him to perform well alone. He lacked the support of his teammates, so he could only choose to go it alone.

This made it easier to defend.

So Arshavin had not created any threatening shooting opportunities so far. His own shots were often unable to threaten Saint Petersburg Zenit's goal under the strict defense and interference of Saint Petersburg Zenit players.

Not to mention Chen Hero... He was the kind of center forward who needed the support of the whole team. Without the support of the team, he was nothing. So with the whole team performing poorly, his chances of being in the spotlight were not high.

Until halftime, Napoli had not been able to score a goal. In fact, they should be happy with this result, because the home team Saint Petersburg Zenit had not scored either. So the difference between the two sides was still one goal, and it was still possible to equalize in the second half—although from this first half, it seemed difficult.

※※※

In Napoli's locker room, the atmosphere was very depressing, and many people were hanging their heads and saying nothing.

Logically speaking, even if they lost this match, it shouldn't affect their chances of qualifying for the group stage. Currently, they have two wins and one draw, with seven points, ranking first in the group. Lyon is second with two wins and one loss, with six points. Liverpool is third with two draws and one loss, with two points. Saint Petersburg Zenit is fourth with one draw and two losses, with one point.

In other words, even if Napoli lost this match, they would at most lose the first place in the group, and their right to qualify for the group stage would still be unshakable. Even if Zenit beat Napoli, they would not be able to enter the top two. And if Liverpool beat Lyon, Liverpool's points would not be enough to rise to the top two, and even if they could really beat Lyon, it wouldn't matter even if Napoli lost this match, because they wouldn't even lose the first place in the group...

So logically speaking, they shouldn't be so depressed. But perhaps their performance in the group stage had been too smooth, and Napoli had developed the idea that "we should win", as if not winning was abnormal...

But in reality? They had forgotten that they had not participated in the Champions League for a full eighteen years. For the current Champions League, they were absolute rookies.

Chen Hero was the first to break this awkward silence.

"In the second half, we have to make changes, brothers! In the second half, you all kick the ball at my head!" He patted his head.

Then, when Mazzarri walked in and started to arrange the tactics for the second half, his thoughts coincided with Chen Hero's.

"The bad field conditions make it impossible for us to organize ground attacks, so in the second half we will switch to the air. Everyone kicks the ball into the sky, towards where Hero is..."

He didn't know if doing so would really help the team reverse the defeat, but it was the only effective way he could think of so far.

He always had to try...

※※※

"...After the start of the second half, Napoli adjusted their strategy. They frequently launched high balls. Obviously, they wanted to make full use of Hero's height and heading advantage..." Sergei, the Saint Petersburg local commentator, said into the microphone.

"Watch out for his header!" Goalkeeper Malafeev yelled at Chen Hero more than once.

In fact, he didn't need to do that at all. All Zenit players knew how to defend Chen Hero's header. During his two years at Saint Petersburg Zenit, the most impressive thing besides his lechery was probably his header...

De Jong chose to pass long directly from the backcourt, targeting Chen Hero.

Although Chen Hero had his back to the goal and couldn't shoot directly, he had to pass the ball to his teammates, and then his teammates would transfer the ball to the wing and cross.

But this was better than launching an attack from the ground like in the first half...

Zenit's defenders were all Chen Hero's teammates when he was there, so they knew him very well. Despite this, they were still defeated in the header contest...

Krizanac originally planned to go around in front to defend and head the ball, but Chen Hero firmly blocked him behind him, and then suddenly jumped up and headed the ball to his teammate Cassano, who was following up, before Krizanac.

After completing this header pass, Chen Hero turned around and walked inside, and Krizanac quickly followed, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.

Other teams defending Chen Hero may occasionally lose focus, thinking that it doesn't matter if they lose focus in one or two defenses, he can't just seize such an opportunity to score, right?

The players of Saint Petersburg Zenit didn't dare to think that way at all—why did they say that they knew Chen Hero very well? This understanding was not limited to the superficial understanding of how awesome his header was or how strong his body was. Anyone who watched a few of Chen Hero's matches would understand these things.

Their so-called understanding was the understanding of Chen Hero's style of constantly looking for scoring opportunities every second of the ninety minutes.

He had excellent physical fitness, which could support him to do this. By the last moment of the match, when everyone else couldn't run anymore, he was still like he had just come on the court.

Therefore, those who really knew him knew that they must not lose focus in the slightest, and must not give him any chance, even if... it didn't look like a chance, they had to fight for the ball.

Therefore, defending Chen Hero was tiring.