Leonardo's choice was correct. After taking the lead, Napoli's offense became even more fierce. If Inter Milan had also pressed forward to attack them head-on, the difference in momentum alone would have been enough for Napoli to score two more goals…

Inter Milan, choosing to defend desperately, successfully withstood Napoli's offensive.

Ten minutes passed unnoticed. It was the sixty-first minute, and Napoli was still leading by one goal.

They were still attacking.

Meanwhile, Inter Milan seized the opportunity to launch several counterattacks, but due to limited manpower, they were unable to threaten Napoli's defense.

Just when everyone thought that Napoli would continue their bombardment and Inter Milan could only play defensively.

Inter Milan unexpectedly tied the score…

The specific situation was this: Inter Milan launched a counterattack, passing the ball directly to Eto'o. Eto'o used his individual skills to dribble through, but lacked support. This was originally a counterattack with little threat, unless Eto'o could dribble past the entire Napoli defense alone, otherwise he would either take a hasty long shot or get stuck in a dead end. The best result would be to win a corner kick for the team.

But as he cut inside from the wing, he was tripped by Criscito.

The referee blew his whistle, giving Criscito a yellow card and Inter Milan a free kick thirty meters from the goal.

Sneijder stood in front of the ball, and then… kicked the ball directly into the goal!

※※※

"Well done!" Leonardo jumped up from his seat again, raising his arms and cheering.

An away goal, a draw, perfect!

On the other side, Mazzarri was cursing Criscito's recklessness: "He shouldn't have tackled! What's the fear of letting him pass? We still have De Jong and two center backs in the middle! Inter Milan was waiting for this kind of opportunity!"

But no matter how much he cursed, the fact that Napoli had been tied could not be changed.

"Inter Milan's conservatism has finally paid off! Although there's a bit of luck involved in this goal…"

※※※

The Italian commentators were more concerned about which of these two teams could represent Italian football in the top four, while the Chinese commentators had a completely different perspective. He Ping was more concerned about Chen Hero's condition.

The game had been going on for sixty-five minutes, and Chen Hero had not scored yet. Although he had two threatening shots, without a goal they were meaningless.

So far in this game, he had only one assist—Raul's goal came from his header pass.

But what he needed was not assists, but goals.

"Hero once made a bold statement that he wanted to defend his Champions League top scorer title. Judging from his performance in the previous games, he is working towards this goal. He has already scored five goals in just two games. If the Champions League top scorer was ranked according to goal-scoring efficiency, Hero would definitely be the undisputed top scorer… unfortunately, it's not the case. We don't know how far Napoli can go in the end, and it's unclear how many more games Hero can play. If he really wants to win the top scorer, he must seize the opportunity in every game, but look at this game, there are twenty-five minutes left, and he hasn't scored yet…"

He Ping was anxious about Chen Hero's failure to score, and so were the Chinese fans.

In China, Inter Milan has a huge number of supporters. A few years ago, CCTV conducted a survey to see how many fans the major European clubs had in China. Inter Milan won the championship, and AC Milan came in second.

Therefore, this Champions League quarter-final caused a lot of Chinese Inter Milan fans to be conflicted, not knowing whether to hope that Inter Milan would win or that Napoli would win…

※※※

Chen Hero was tightly sandwiched between Lucio and Samuel, making it very difficult to head the ball. Lucio's heading skills were very high, and Samuel's defensive ability was also excellent.

It was a bit difficult to deal with two top center backs at the same time, not to mention that Inter Milan defended with all their players retreating. The entire penalty area was full of people, and if he moved even a little slower, the ball would be gone.

During the half-time break, Mazzarri asked for more diverse offensive methods.

So, as soon as the second half started, he tried a long shot.

As a result, the penalty area was full of people, and his long shot either hit Inter Milan players or was blocked by his own teammates.

Both long shots and headers were not very effective, and the crowded penalty area also limited his off-ball movement.

Was there really no way?

Chen Hero suddenly thought of his last goal in the game against Lazio. The curler outside the penalty area…

A flash of inspiration struck his mind. Why couldn't he use a curve to get around those people? If it wasn't easy to go around from the side, he could go around from above!

So, he retreated even further, because the falling leaf ball required enough distance, it wouldn't be easy to execute if he was too close…

The only problem was that he hadn't actually started practicing the falling leaf ball yet. Maybe he would have to take many shots before he could get it right—he had hit falling leaf balls before, but they were basically by chance.

In the sixty-seventh minute, he got a chance to experiment, but the ball he kicked out was powerful, flat, and low, and was blocked by the crowd.

In the seventy-third minute, he received the ball outside the penalty area again and took a long shot. This time it wasn't flat or low, but went straight into the stands…

※※※

Everyone saw Chen Hero taking frequent long shots outside the penalty area, but no one took it seriously. Because he had been doing this since the beginning of the second half. Long shots were originally one of his scoring weapons, so it was normal for him to take more long shots.

As long as he didn't score. From the looks of it now, his long-range shooting accuracy was very low…

After Chen Hero tried a few shots, he deeply realized the difference between free kicks and long shots. Free kicks were set up, and it was easier to accurately hit a certain part of the ball in the absence of interference. But what about long shots?

The ball was moving, and there were defenders interfering. It wasn't easy to accurately hit a specific part of the ball in such a situation…

But this was not a reason to stop him from scoring.

What if the ball was moving and there were other people interfering?

Then he would minimize these factors as much as possible.

※※※

Cambiasso stepped forward to steal the ball. Chen Hero leaned to the side, stuck out his butt, and blocked the Argentine midfielder behind him. Even if he kicked and pushed from behind, he couldn't shake Chen Hero in the slightest.

Then Chen Hero took a shot. This time the height of the ball was much lower, but it still flew over the crossbar because the ball didn't complete the sudden downward motion…

The falling leaf ball was really not as simple as Chen Hero had imagined.

But Chen Hero kept trying tirelessly. Anyway, Inter Milan was satisfied after tying the score and continued to shrink their defense. Napoli had plenty of offensive opportunities.

Heaven would reward those who were determined. He didn't believe that he wouldn't find the feeling if he kept playing like this!

If the Inter Milan players knew that Chen Hero was using them as experimental tools, who knows what they would think…

※※※

Time passed minute by minute. The score was still tied 1:1, and there were ten minutes left in the game. This score meant victory for Inter Milan.

In fact, even if they lost 1:2 in the end, it would be completely acceptable for Inter Milan.

For Napoli, it wouldn't be a good result.

But now there was no other choice, unless Napoli could score two or even three goals in the remaining ten minutes…

This was unlikely. Napoli could only hope to score one goal, at least get a victory and be in the lead on aggregate.

Something was better than nothing.

Victory was always better than a draw.

Although no matter what, Leonardo's tactics were successful…

In the eighty-second minute, Chen Hero got the ball again. This time there were no defenders around him for the time being, because the distance was a bit far, and the accuracy of shooting directly was very low, so the Inter Milan players didn't rush over in time.

Chen Hero didn't care so much. No one was defending him? Wasn't this a great opportunity?

Take a shot!

Shoot!

Chen Hero gently pushed the ball forward. The rolling speed of the ball was moderate and relatively regular. In this case, it would be easier to accurately hit a specific part of the ball.

After pushing the ball out, Chen Hero lowered his head and stared at the ball, just like he did in special training. He imprinted the entire ball firmly in his mind, knowing exactly where every part of the ball should be.

Then he swung his right leg.

For the goal against Lazio, he used the three rightmost toes of his right foot, so the ball was faster.

This time he used the entire tip of his foot.

He accurately hit the lower middle part of the ball.

At the moment of hitting the ball, he didn't apply force straight forward, but had a very natural upward pulling motion.

At the same time, his center of gravity pressed forward instead of leaning back, so the ball he kicked out would be controlled at a suitable height, so as not to go directly into the sky…

With a bang!

The ball was kicked towards the goal.

No one thought that the ball would fly towards the goal. They thought that like Chen Hero's previous long shots, it would be either too high or too wide.

From the initial trajectory of the ball, this was indeed the case… the ball flew straight up, and the height continued to rise.

It flew high over the heads of those inside and outside the penalty area.

It also flew past Cesar's fingertips…

If it continued to fly like this, the second tier of the stands behind the goal would be the final resting place of the ball.

But at this moment, in full view of everyone, the ball suddenly fell!

Like a falling leaf, it fluttered erratically and suddenly sank.

It plunged headlong into the goal behind Cesar!

It almost brushed against the crossbar as it flew in. If the ball had dropped a little later, it would have smashed into the crossbar, wasting such a beautiful first half.

If it had been a little earlier, it would have hit Cesar's palm and been intercepted.

It was really thrilling…

The audience was silent for a few seconds after this unexpected goal, and then a huge cheer erupted.

"Bravo!"

"Bea-u-ti-ful!!!"

The San Paolo Stadium erupted like Mount Vesuvius, a spectacular sight!