Chapter 346 Nine Goals

When Chen Yingxiong blasted the football into the goal with a powerful shot that even Inter Milan's best goalkeeper, Cesar, couldn't react to, the entire Meazza stadium fell silent.

A moment later, applause and cheers erupted.

This time, even Inter Milan fans stood up and applauded him.

Chen Yingxiong stood there, head raised, right hand held high, the top forming a "nine" gesture that puzzled foreign commentators.

"It's nine! The ninth goal! Hero's ninth goal in this Champions League!" He Ping naturally knew what it meant. "Before this game, he was still three goals behind Messi. I didn't expect him to close the gap in just one game!"

He Ping shouted excitedly.

Many Chinese fans in front of the TV were just as excited as he was, and they shouted, "Long live, Hero!"

"Hero is awesome!"

"Too amazing!"

"Damn! So badass!"

Some fans couldn't contain their excitement and left messages online saying they were already in tears.

It wasn't just the Chinese who were so excited; commentators from other countries were also beside themselves.

"Nine goals... he did it in just four games... is he even human anymore!"

"I think the bookmakers should consider adjusting the odds for Hero to defend his top scorer title, otherwise, they'll lose a fortune!"

"Mazzarri is truly enviable, he has such a powerful striker, almost invincible! As long as Hero can maintain this form, I wouldn't be surprised if they reach the final!"

And those TV viewers were also shocked by Chen Yingxiong's inhuman performance, completely unable to believe that this was really happening.

※※※

Chen Yingxiong's hat-trick gave Napoli a 5-2 lead over Inter Milan at the San Siro, and Inter Milan had completely lost hope of advancing. The rest of the game became garbage time.

He was still chasing goals.

But his luck was a little worse.

He didn't score again until the end of the game.

But no one would criticize his performance as unsatisfactory, nor would anyone think he scored too few goals. In fact, in the last ten minutes of the game, all the commentators did was... sing Chen Yingxiong's praises.

"Mazzarri once said that in terms of scoring ability alone, Chen Yingxiong is stronger than Messi. At the time, it drew a lot of ridicule. But now, looking at it in practice, we have to admit that Mazzarri was right. We're not talking about personal technique, popularity, speed, or influence. We're just talking about scoring ability. How do you measure scoring ability? Of course, it's the number of goals and the efficiency of scoring. From these two points, Chen Yingxiong is completely on par with Messi..."

This commentator was relatively conservative, only saying "on par with Messi," not saying "stronger than" Messi, which was considered considerate of Messi's fans.

Even the Argentine commentator admitted that Chen Yingxiong had accomplished something remarkable: "As an Argentine, I certainly hope that Messi wins the Champions League top scorer, but we must also admit that Hero is also very good... to be able to score nine goals in four games, such scoring efficiency is truly amazing..."

Russian commentator Yuri Petrov laughed heartily and was in a good mood: "This is the 'Northern Bear' who came out of our Russian Premier League! He's someone our Russian fans watched grow up! From an unknown, unpolished teenager to a star that amazes the whole world! Roar, bear!"

The Italian commentators had long been convinced by Chen Yingxiong, because they had commentated on many of Chen Yingxiong's games in the domestic league, and they were very familiar with Chen Yingxiong's scoring ability.

"This is Hero! Napoli's Hero! That bold and arrogant guy who, when he first arrived in Naples, declared that Neapolitans should forget Maradona. But three seasons have passed, and instead of being defeated by the jeers of Napoli fans, he has become more and more arrogant. He has won the Serie A top scorer for two consecutive seasons, and this season's league top scorer is probably a sure thing as well. Now, he is launching an assault on the Champions League top scorer for two consecutive seasons. How many more surprises will Hero give us?"

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"The game is over! The game is over! Napoli defeated Inter Milan 5-2 away, and eliminated the defending champion with a total score of 7-3! Inter Milan absolutely did not expect that they would be eliminated in such a humiliating way, but they have Hero on the other side, perhaps they should understand something, right?"

When the referee blew the final whistle, the close-up lens of the TV broadcast was firmly locked on Chen Yingxiong. In the lens, he took off his jersey, waved it in his hand, and roared to the sky.

His image overlapped with the image of the giant bear tattoo on his back, making it difficult to distinguish which was his true form for a moment…

※※※

In the mixed zone, Chen Yingxiong was surrounded by reporters again. Chen Yingxiong, who had tied Messi, was very happy and showed great pride, and simply taught the media a lesson: "I said I wanted to defend the top scorer, you didn't believe me, do you believe me now? Let me tell you, Messi and the like, I didn't even pay attention to them!"

These words were very big and arrogant, but the reporters who had witnessed his hat-trick in this game didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Besides, whether or not Messi was in his eyes was Chen Yingxiong's own personal opinion, and others couldn't really interfere.

"Now it's good, I'm on the same starting line with him, next you just wait and see the show!" The Napoli center raised his head and made a sound from his nose, then left the reporters behind.

※※※

At the post-match press conference, Mazzarri was looking for the bastard who had provoked him at the pre-match press conference yesterday.

"Did the Argentine reporter who said that Messi was leading Hero by three goals yesterday come?" Mazzarri asked with a smile. But everyone knew that he was definitely not going to have a drink with that reporter.

Many people looked around.

The reporter from yesterday was there today—he had come yesterday, how could he not come today? Not only that, but he also watched the entire game in the press box. He was a relatively staunch Messi supporter, believing that Messi only needed to lead the Argentine national team to another World Cup title to be officially crowned the third King of Football.

With Messi's level, no opponent could be found in the world football scene for the next ten years. As for that Portuguese guy, he was just hyped up by some media, whether in terms of personal achievements or collective honors, he was far behind.

So when Mazzarri said that in terms of scoring ability, Messi was far inferior to Chen Yingxiong, he was indignant and blurted out that sentence.

Who would have thought that today he would personally witness Messi, who was leading by three goals, being caught up by Chen Yingxiong in one game.

What a human tragedy.

And that's not the end of it, at the post-match press conference, he would be dragged out and flogged by Mazzarri.

He really didn't expect that the dignified coach of Napoli would be so petty!

The grief and indignation in his heart!

He was soon found.

Mazzarri pointed at him with an unnatural expression: "Ha, dear reporter, I especially want to know what you are feeling right now?"

The Argentine reporter kept his lips tightly closed, even though there was a burst of gloating laughter around him, he would never speak. He knew that the other party was triumphant now, and he was a loser. At this time, it was best not to say anything, because whatever you say, the other party can make a fuss about it, and in the end, only you will be humiliated.

Mazzarri obviously didn't intend to let him go like this, did he think it would be okay if he didn't speak?

Mazzarri had his own way.

"I will repeat it again, I hope everyone doesn't think I'm joking—in terms of scoring ability alone, no current player in the world is better than Hero!"

He was so excited that he said such an awesome thing…

※※※

So the next day, the headlines of various newspapers had many "Chen Yingxiong, the current number one!"

"Even more powerful than Messi!"

This kind of alarming title.

Of course, the title looks scary, but the content is all real.

Anyone who watched yesterday's game would not feel that the title was too exaggerated. Exaggerated is exaggerated, but to ask reporters not to exaggerate? That's more uncomfortable than killing them.

All the professional sports newspapers reported on yesterday's game, and they all neglected Real Madrid's 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

The Chinese media was even more climaxing. In addition to writing down the number of goals scored by Chen Yingxiong and Messi, and then putting the two people's photos together, and then creating some virtual dialogues, there were also various flattering articles. Under their flowery writing, Chen Yingxiong was boasted to be a figure who had surpassed the King of Football Maradona, and was a genius that Chinese football could produce once in five hundred years.

Of course, there were also many criticisms against the Chinese Football Association—such an awesome player, how dare you, the Chinese Football Association, not recruit him into the national team? Who gave you the guts to do this?!

These are all minor details.

The European media's evaluation of Chen Yingxiong is still quite objective—even so, they are also extremely excited.

All kinds of praise flew to Chen Yingxiong's head.

Some people have already called him "the most perverted shooter in Champions League history."

Scoring nine goals in a season is not uncommon in Champions League history, but scoring nine goals in four knockout matches is very difficult. If it were four group matches, it probably wouldn't surprise people so much.

After all, in the group stage, you may encounter very weak opponents. The only meaning of those teams is to let the strong teams score points and the shooters score goals.

But the Champions League knockout stage and the group stage are completely two different events. Basically, there are no weak teams that can stay in the knockout stage, not to mention that the two teams that Napoli drew are definitely not weak teams.

To be able to score nine goals in four games against these two teams, Chen Yingxiong is really amazing.

After the game, UEFA conducted a urine sample test on Chen Yingxiong. Obviously, UEFA also felt a little unbelievable and wanted to see if Chen Yingxiong had taken any banned drugs.

Of course, the results showed that Chen Yingxiong was innocent and there were no problems with his results.

Now, I wonder if someone in UEFA is feeling uneasy…