Chapter 1 The Color of Mazzarri's Face

Mazzarri sat in his office with a stern face, facing Chen Hero, Cassano, Maggio, Sanchez, San Croce, Arshavin, and Hamsik.

The Napoli coach's expression was so gloomy it seemed like water could be squeezed from it. Behind his glasses, his eyes coldly swept over everyone present.

Fighting with fans, even if the other party was a notorious, recidivist hooligan, would damage the team's reputation and image!

What were these guys thinking before they did it?

Chen Hero and Cassano stood at the very front upon entering, with Arshavin and Hamsik behind them. In the back row were Maggio, Sanchez, and San Croce.

Mazzarri didn't need to ask who the ringleader was and who the accomplices were because their positions clearly showed him the relationships between them.

Looking at the two who stood closest to him without any remorse, he knew that these two must have been the main forces in yesterday's fight.

As for Hamsik and Arshavin, as Chen Hero's good friends, they must have helped with all their might.

Maggio, Sanchez, and San Croce were obviously just accomplices...

He suddenly had a headache—these people were almost all his main players!

But why... why did these people all participate in yesterday's brawl?!

"Should I feel proud and honored for your heroic actions yesterday, and applaud and whistle?" Mazzarri finally spoke after coldly sweeping around.

From the first word he uttered, everyone could hear the chill in his tone.

Although it was midsummer and the office wasn't air-conditioned, with sweat appearing on many people's foreheads... Maggio couldn't help but shiver.

He knew the coach was really angry.

"They provoked us first!" Cassano retorted.

"I don't care what the reason is, you can't just start fighting! Couldn't you have called the police?"

"Wait for the police to come and collect my corpse?" Cassano muttered dissatisfiedly.

Mazzarri tried hard to control his temper, not immediately bursting into abuse. He knew Cassano's temperament—a child at heart, who liked to say these angry words sometimes. But if you took it seriously... then you lost.

"You could run."

"Running away is not my style."

Chen Hero watched Cassano and Mazzarri argue, without saying a word. He thought the relationship between these two was really interesting. The media was right about one thing: these two really seemed like a father and son... This scene was like a father teaching his son who had done something wrong, while the son in his rebellious phase dismissed his father's teachings and retorted sarcastically. At the same time, the father couldn't simply lose his temper; he had to control himself and reason with his son...

What a family drama!

Mazzarri realized there was no point in arguing with Cassano like this. He still had to issue the punishment, even though it would greatly affect the team's preparations... But a team without the necessary discipline would have no fighting power. So he would rather let the team's preparations for the Champions League qualifiers be affected, to establish the coach's authority and emphasize the importance of discipline.

"From today, the seven of you will report to the reserve team, and you're also suspended from the team... As for when you'll return to the first team, that depends on your own performance."

As soon as he said this, Maggio held his head in his hands—he couldn't believe his ears. The thing he feared most had still come.

At first, he thought that since there were seven of them, even if they were punished, it would only be a fine within the team. But he never expected... such a severe punishment!

Chen Hero and Cassano had no expression. They were going to report to the reserve team anyway. The others had different expressions. Sanchez and Maggio had the same expression, mixed with regret and fear. He had just joined the team, and at the time when he most needed to integrate into the team, he was sent to the doghouse. In this way, his future in Naples was shrouded in shadow.

Arshavin and Hamsik seemed relatively calm. First of all, they were stars who had already established their positions in the team. For them, this was just a punishment, and they wouldn't lose their positions in the team because of it. Napoli wasn't a powerhouse, and if they weren't used, the strength of the others was limited, so if the team wanted to achieve good results, they would eventually return to the team's main lineup sooner or later.

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Mario Bortolazzi was one of the assistant coaches of the Napoli first team, and also the coach of the reserve team.

He wasn't surprised at all that so many first-team stars had come to report here because he also knew what had happened.

He guessed that Mazzarri would send these people to the reserve team.

But at the same time, he also felt that these people probably wouldn't stay in the reserve team for too long... because these people were indispensable to the team after the league started.

The only variable was Cassano... He had only transferred to the team on the first day, and he had a conflict with Chen Hero. With his strange and eccentric temper and way of doing things, how long he could stay in Naples was really unknown...

"Okay, guys, don't be discouraged. Just treat it as a vacation to relax in the reserve team, haha!" Bortolazzi joked.

Maggio grinned, "That's not a funny joke, Mario."

In this way, the seven players of the Napoli first team began their reserve team life...

Chen Hero's prophecy came true. For the "Eating, Drinking, and Merrymaking Group, Naples Branch," they really went forward and backward together. They all went to the reserve team together, not one less.

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That morning, the reporters found that Chen Hero, Cassano, and the other seven players were missing from the first team's training.

In the afternoon, the club held a special press conference to announce the punishment notice for these two incidents.

Although the police had found out that the ten hooligans had provoked them first, Mazzarri had said that no matter what, they were not allowed to attack the fans. Therefore, the Napoli club's internal punishment was very severe.

"Players who participated in the brawl will be demoted to the reserve team and suspended from the team!"

After Mazzarri announced this decision at the press conference, it still caused an uproar at the press conference. Although everyone had guessed it to some extent, it was still shocking to hear him say it from Mazzarri's mouth—seven first-team players in one breath!

Among these seven players, at least five were the team's main players last season. Sanchez was bought by the club for 20 million euros, the most expensive signing for Napoli so far this summer, and Cassano was Mazzarri's godson...

Mazzarri was really ruthless!

Half of the main lineup was gone. How would they prepare for the season?

But from this, it could also be seen how strict Mazzarri's requirements for team discipline were, and also how much prestige Mazzarri now had in Napoli...

If this were done by Reja, I'm afraid these seven players would have been clamoring for a transfer.

In the first half of last season, Reja gave Hamsik, who inexplicably received a red card in the game, a fine within the team, which made Hamsik's agent shout, "If Napoli doesn't get a Champions League qualification next season, Hamsik will leave."

This punishment was obviously much heavier than a fine within the team...

But...

Everyone began to think, how long could Cassano stay in Napoli in the face of such a punishment? It was estimated that it wouldn't be long before they could hear all kinds of disharmonious notes coming from the Napoli locker room, right?

It seemed that Napoli must be watched closely this season. Who knew when news as explosive as yesterday's would emerge again?

In addition, there was one thing that the media couldn't understand, and they brought it up to Mazzarri at the press conference.

"Yesterday, we also saw Chen Hero and Cassano have a very intense conflict during training. This conflict even caused them to leave the training ground early... May I ask, why did we see them in the parking lot with their arms around each other's shoulders, seeming very close, one day later?"

This was perhaps the best moment of Mazzarri's mood today.

He smiled: "Is there any need to ask? Didn't I say yesterday that I believe they will become good friends!"

Of course, he knew how those reporters were mocking him and how they planned to make a fool of him. But now, it was his turn to make a fool of them!

Fighting with fans, punishment was punishment, but Mazzarri still saw positive significance in it. That was that through this incident, although he didn't know why, the relationship between Chen Hero and Cassano had developed by leaps and bounds, and they had changed from enemies who punched each other to friends who cherished each other.

This was definitely good for the future locker room atmosphere of Napoli.

He knew very well Chen Hero's status in the locker room. With Chen Hero protecting Cassano, it was obviously easier for him to integrate into the team...

If Cassano could really integrate into the team and return to the state he was in when he first arrived at Sampdoria that season, it would undoubtedly be good news for Napoli. He always firmly believed that Cassano had the talent and ability, mainly the psychology. If his psychological problems were solved, then Antonio would become omnipotent. His recovery would definitely help Napoli go further on multiple fronts.

Faced with Mazzarri's answer, a group of reporters looked embarrassed.

Yes, when Mazzarri said yesterday that Chen Hero and Cassano would become good friends, there was a brawl behind them, and they mocked this person.

Who would have thought that only one day later, these two seemed to be a pair of good friends...

Yesterday, Chen Hero and Cassano used their actions to help the reporters slap coach Mazzarri in the face, and today they helped Mazzarri forcefully fight back against the reporters.

Yesterday, they all declared in their respective articles and reports that there would never be any friendship between Chen Hero and Cassano, and that their conflict would only cause the entire Napoli to fall into division, and that Cassano was a locker room cancer.

Now... how should they explain to the readers those photos they took this morning?

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ps, The second update is here. Monthly tickets, monthly tickets, everyone, please check if you still have monthly tickets in your hands?

Have pity on me~~~~