Lin Hai Ting Tao

Chapter 545 The Biggest Gimmick in the Champions League (First Update, Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

ps, the two-day burst officially begins, requesting monthly tickets!

Don't fall out of the top ten on the total list again!!

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Manchester United is no stranger to Napoli, as they have already played against each other twice in the group stage.

They never expected to have another chance to meet in the semi-finals when they played in the group stage.

But that's fine, it saves a lot of trouble in collecting information and familiarizing themselves with their opponents.

Overall, Manchester United is very familiar with Napoli. They have already analyzed Napoli when they played against them in the group stage. The only person they didn't analyze was Chen Hero, who was suspended.

And Chen Hero doesn't need much understanding either. Now, if anyone in Europe doesn't know enough about Chen Hero, then he must have nothing to do with football.

Everyone involved in the football industry, or who likes football, is watching Chen Hero closely.

In fact, starting some time ago, there have been more and more inquiries about Chen Hero.

If Bigon hadn't known the truth from De Laurentiis in advance, I'm afraid he would have been overwhelmed.

Because those inquiring teams include many world-renowned giants. In Italy, Inter Milan is the most interested. In Spain, there have always been rumors that Mourinho admires Chen Hero very much, and has repeatedly stated that Real Madrid needs a center forward who can head the ball and hold the ball in the penalty area. Isn't this urging Real Madrid's senior management to buy Chen Hero?

The news from the Premier League is that Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea, including Manchester City, are all interested in Chen Hero.

As for the interest of those mid-range teams, there are even more, so many that they are not worth mentioning.

Bigon's answer to all the clubs that came to inquire was—"Hero is Napoli's non-sale item!"

Righteous and confident.

In fact, he knows that Hero already belongs to Liverpool...

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Ferguson has studied Chen Hero very thoroughly, and he also knows that this is a player who not only meets the characteristics of modern football, but also has the ability of a classic center forward. It is only natural that such a player can score so many goals.

Modern football has high requirements for running positions. In addition to scoring goals, center forwards also need to shoulder some other tasks. Chen Hero can do all of these things. However, there is no shortage of center forwards who meet the requirements of modern football now, but there are fewer and fewer people with the characteristics of classic center forwards...

The center forwards of modern football are represented by Ibrahimovic. They are tall and big, but they don't like to use headers very much, or they are not good at headers at all. Their foot skills are quite good, their bodies are not strong, or their bodies are strong but they don't like to use their bodies, but prefer to solve problems with skills. Such center forwards don't like to always stay in the penalty area, stay in front of the goal, their running positions are very flexible, and they can be seen active in the middle and on the wings.

However, the attacking ability of this type of center forward is generally relatively poor.

Chen Hero is completely different. He can run flexibly, and he also has foot skills to support him. At the same time, the most important thing is that he is strong, has excellent headers, likes to move in front of the goal, and is not afraid to compete with strong central defenders in terms of body and strength. Even if there are more opposing defenders, he moves forward bravely.

There are fewer and fewer such center forwards in modern football. Either their foot skills are excellent, but they are not good at using their bodies, and they always suffer in physical confrontations in the penalty area; or they have a strong body and good heading ability, but their feet are too rough to look at.

If he hadn't already made up his mind to make Rooney the main player, Ferguson might have really been tempted to run to compete with other teams for Hero.

After understanding Chen Hero, how should he deal with him?

Ferguson carefully studied Chen Hero's goals and found that most of them were headers, which means that Napoli's tactics are still mainly based on crosses from the wing.

So, if you want to freeze Chen Hero, you have to start with the entire Napoli team.

It is best to cut off his connection with the midfield and defense, and isolate him.

However, any opponent can think of this strategy, because more than one team has used such tactics to block Chen Hero, so Napoli must also have corresponding methods. From the game video, Napoli's frontcourt attacking combination has very flexible running positions, which is obviously to prevent being cut off from each other.

For example, in Chen Hero's hat-trick against Inter Milan, the first goal was because Raul suddenly moved from the left to the right side and cooperated with Arshavin to assist. The second goal was because Chen Hero took the initiative to move from the center to the far post, which bypassed Inter Milan's defense and received a pass from his teammate. These are all the result of running positions.

Ferguson felt that it might not be easy to simply cut off the connection between them. Most of the players in Napoli's lineup have been playing together for three seasons, and they are very familiar with each other.

He felt that he had to take an unconventional approach.

Many teams are in awe when they arrive at Napoli's home stadium. They are frightened by the reputation of the Stadio San Paolo as a "hellish home stadium" and a "devilish home stadium." Some referees have even said that Napoli players are all supermen when they play in this stadium.

So every team that comes here to play first considers defense and not conceding goals. Or rather, conceding fewer goals, and losing less is winning.

Even the defending champion Inter Milan had to be suppressed by the atmosphere of the Stadio San Paolo and completely abandoned their face to defend desperately. At one point, Inter Milan's own fans were very dissatisfied. As a result, they thought they had fought for a suitable result.

Who would have thought that when they returned to their home stadium, they would be swept 5-2 by Napoli. They didn't even want their faces in the away game, but they returned to their home stadium to wait for a 2-5 defeat. The defending champion was eliminated in this way, which is really ironic...

Ferguson definitely took a different approach.

This is also because he is experienced and has experienced all kinds of scenes.

He knew that Mazzarri would definitely think that Manchester United would also choose a conservative style of play with defense as the main focus in the away game. If the opponent defends desperately, what should Napoli do? Of course, it is a wild attack. Napoli is not afraid of desperate defense. Desperate defense can only make them more presumptuous, because the opponent's offensive is almost zero, which means that Napoli does not need to worry about their back when attacking, and they can press forward with all their strength.

And what Ferguson wanted was for Napoli to press forward with all their strength, so that the large gaps behind them could be used...

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Before the game even started, the Stadio San Paolo was already full. Napoli fans paid close attention to this game.

Champions League semi-finals! A height that Napoli has never reached in history!

Even Maradona was unable to lead the team to do so much. Now the media no longer says "the post-Maradona era" but calls it "the era of surpassing Maradona."

Don't everyone understand the meaning of this?

But no one is angry at the media's naked confession anymore. Many Napoli fans think carefully—what did the Maradona era bring them? Two Serie A titles and one UEFA Cup title. This result was very remarkable at the time, but looking back, it feels a bit... just so-so.

Now the UEFA Cup has been devalued, and the league title in the past is not as difficult to win as it is now—now the league title is basically monopolized by those powerful teams, and there are countless inside stories. How dare a southern team without power or background dare to dream of winning the championship? Keep dreaming!

But now, not only in the league, Napoli maintains its lead and has the potential to lift the league championship trophy. More importantly, the Champions League! This championship, which symbolizes the highest honor in European football, has never been touched by Napoli.

Now Napoli has hope of winning the UEFA Champions League title.

Because of this, many fans feel that today's Napoli is at least on par with the Maradona era, if not surpassing it...

So every Champions League home game, the Stadio San Paolo is packed. As the team goes further, the fans' enthusiasm is even higher.

This team has carried all their hopes and dreams.

Even some media and cultural figures have tried every means to find various expressions and humanistic meanings for the team's current performance. Their rapid progress in the Champions League and their pressure on the northern powerhouses in the league have been given the name of "not fearing power and challenging authority," saying that this is the cry of the little people, the desperate blow of the grassroots class, the struggle of southern Italy against the north, and a touching "David vs. Goliath" football version...

In short, all kinds of hats that made the Napoli players themselves confused were put on their heads.

In fact, today's Italy is no longer the Italy of the Maradona era. Although there are still differences between the south and the north, it is not that serious. They have never thought about these inexplicable humanistic concerns. They just want to win the championship for themselves and win the championship for the team, that's all.

But it must be said that those so-called "humanistic concerns" speculated by cultural figures without the consent of the parties involved are still quite marketable, at least Napoli fans are very proud.

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Before the game even started, the Stadio San Paolo was already full. The media from all over the world who gathered here were very satisfied with the atmosphere of this home stadium.

"It seems that Manchester United will encounter a tough battle in this stadium."

"If Napoli wants to advance to the final, they have to beat Manchester United at home. This is very important... Of course, a score of 2-1 is definitely not acceptable. I don't think Manchester United will make the same mistake as Inter Milan..."

"I am more looking forward to how Chen Hero can perform in this game. In fact, as long as he can score, Napoli can basically win..."

"Real Madrid and Barca are playing tomorrow. I wonder what kind of pressure Hero can put on Messi in this game..."

The reporters who entered the press box were talking a lot. The good show of Messi and Chen Hero competing is something they are all happy to see. In fact, the Champions League has been going on for fifty-six years, and there are so few gimmicks, especially after Platini took office. It is nothing more than the confrontation between those teams with grievances. At first, everyone thought it was quite interesting—a strong dialogue, a duel of fate!

Later, after there were more and more of this kind of competition, everyone gradually became a little aesthetically tired.

It was not until this season that the competition between Chen Hero and Messi for the top scorer reignited everyone's interest.

In European football, especially in the Champions League, there is very little such naked competition.

This in itself is already very exciting, not to mention that the process is so wonderful. Chen Hero, who no one was optimistic about, managed to tie Messi, the world's number one player in football today, despite playing six fewer group stage games...

For a time, the onlookers were watching with excitement.

This has also become the biggest gimmick of this season's Champions League.