Chapter 1 The Naples First Victory

In the end, thanks to Chen Yingxiong's two goals, Napoli ushered in their first victory of the new season at home, defeating Bari 3:2.

Contrary to what the commentators said, after Napoli took a two-goal lead in the first half, they did not end the suspense of the game. Instead, Bari suddenly exploded and scored two goals in a row in the second half, forcing Napoli into a flurry. Fortunately, in the eighty-sixth minute, captain Paolo Cannavaro used a corner kick to head the ball into Bari's goal, allowing Napoli's unbeaten home record in the league to continue...

After the league match against Bari, Chen Yingxiong had nothing to do, because Napoli was about to face their first opponent in the Champions League group stage.

※※※

The Champions League group stage arrived, and the new season's Champions League main competition officially kicked off.

This match, like the previous two qualifying matches, had nothing to do with Chen Yingxiong. However, he still came to the stadium to watch the game.

This was also Napoli's first Champions League group match after Chen Yingxiong's absence, and all aspects were actually paying close attention to it.

Whether Napoli, without Chen Yingxiong, could emerge from the group of death, and whether Napoli's attacking firepower would be damaged without Chen Yingxiong, these were all questions everyone wanted to know the answers to.

This first strong showdown with Valencia might be able to provide some reference for everyone.

Napoli was without Chen Yingxiong, and Valencia was without Villa. Both sides lacked their biggest scorers.

As a result, both sides played a goalless draw in this match, and neither was able to score. Napoli was held to a 0:0 draw by Valencia at home.

Raúl started the match and played the full ninety minutes, but his performance did not meet people's expectations.

After the match, criticisms of Raúl rang out. Many people believed that Raúl was really old, and no wonder he couldn't play as a starter at Real Madrid. The former Raúl was famous for his inspiration in front of the goal, and that agile style of play fascinated many people. What about the current Raúl? He had completely lost that agility.

What else did Raúl have without agility?

He was not known for his speed, nor was he a natural dribbling fanatic, his body was not strong, and his ability to pick up leaks in front of the goal was not as good as Inzaghi's... It seemed that he had a little bit of ability in all aspects, but none were excellent. If he lost even the most basic agility, he would just be an ordinary player.

Mazzarri's attempt to bet the team's Champions League fate entirely on Raúl was obviously a failed gamble, destined to fail.

But in fact, the whole team's performance in that match was very average. Napoli still didn't seem to have gotten used to playing without Chen Yingxiong - Chen Yingxiong had missed two matches in the new season, and Napoli had only drawn both, without a single victory. In the first round of the league, Chen Yingxiong was absent, and the team drew 1:1 with Fiorentina away from home.

But the media and fans didn't care so much.

Blaming the failure to win on one person was obviously simpler, easier to accept, and easier to understand than analyzing why the whole team didn't perform well.

So Raúl became a scapegoat.

These voices came overwhelmingly, as if the team's draw with Valencia was all Raúl's fault.

Chen Yingxiong heard and saw these voices as well. He was a little worried that Raúl wouldn't be able to handle it. After all, a new player had just transferred to a new team and was facing so much criticism, the pressure must be great. If the team wanted to perform well in the Champions League group stage and advance to the knockout stage, Raúl was definitely an important figure. Coach Mazzarri had told them this many times.

So he wanted to talk to Raúl to help him relieve some pressure. Chen Yingxiong thought he was quite suitable for this kind of work.

He wasn't the team captain, but he would take the initiative to do this kind of thing, which was the consciousness and role of a dressing room leader. Why did he think of doing this kind of thing? Because he felt that for Raúl, he was an old teammate of Napoli, having been here for two seasons, and he was like Raúl's senior. As a senior, he naturally had the qualifications and ideas to say something to his new teammate. Just like Hamsik and Paolo Cannavaro did for him when he first joined the team.

He completely didn't realize that Raúl was an old player eleven years older than him. He didn't have this concept at all.

But what if the two people couldn't communicate?

Raúl spoke Spanish, and Chen Yingxiong spoke Italian. Although Italian and Spanish are actually very similar, some say that the similarity between the two languages is like the dialects of China.

But the problem is that the Italian spoken in Naples is the kind of Italian with a heavy southern Italian accent. To put it bluntly, it's a dialect of Italian.

So who knows what the relationship between Spanish and Neapolitan Italian is? Dialects and dialects. If it was Henan dialect and Shandong dialect, it would be okay. But if it was the difference between Hakka and Beijing dialect, it would be...

Anyway, Raúl is currently working hard to learn Italian with a Neapolitan accent. He doesn't usually communicate much with his teammates in the dressing room. He just uses a smile to express his goodwill and really doesn't try to seize power or become the boss of the team.

Although Spanish and Italian can be used to communicate, Chen Yingxiong was afraid that he wouldn't be able to express himself well and that the other party might not be able to understand, which could easily lead to misunderstandings. So he brought a translator over.

※※※

"Alex." After training, Chen Yingxiong waved to Sanchez.

"What's up, Hero?" As a member of the eating, drinking, and playing group, the vice-leader's summons naturally couldn't be neglected, so Sanchez quickly ran over.

"Help me be a translator."

As soon as Chen Yingxiong said this, Sanchez knew what he wanted to do. "You want to chat with Raúl?" he asked.

These days, if anyone in the team wanted to chat with Raúl, they would ask Sanchez to be the translator. Raúl was also the captain of the giant Real Madrid, and he knew Real Madrid very well. A group of hicks from Napoli were always full of curiosity and longing for life in a giant club, so they naturally wanted to hear some gossip about the giants...

Chen Yingxiong nodded.

"Okay, when?"

"Right now!"

※※※

When Raúl was showering in the bathroom in the dressing room, there was a loud commotion outside. The other Napoli players had all returned. These people were always noisy together, so the dressing room was very lively. The only time they could be quiet was before the start of the match, when the atmosphere in the dressing room was a little tense and serious.

Hot water poured down from Raúl's head, all the way down, gathering into a stream, and flowing into the drain.

The dressing room at Napoli's training base was relatively simple, with only showers and no soaking pool.

And the dressing room at Real Madrid not only had a hot spring pool with electric massage functions, but also luxurious leather lounge chairs and televisions. Players could even enjoy television programs while soaking in the bath.

Having gotten used to the luxurious training facilities of Real Madrid, Raúl was a little unaccustomed when he first arrived in Naples.

Chen Yingxiong and Sanchez walked in naked and saw Raúl showering alone under the showerhead. The two looked at each other and then walked over.

Sanchez stood under the showerhead to Raúl's left, while Chen Yingxiong stood to Raúl's right.

The two sandwiched Raúl in the middle.

Raúl saw two teammates coming to shower and smiled at them, greeting them in the Italian he had just learned.

"Ciao, Hero. Ciao, Alex."

"Ciao, Raúl." Because Sanchez spoke Spanish, he was currently the closest and most intimate person in the team with Raúl. They had already become friends - Cassano was still training alone and rarely came to the team, so Raúl didn't meet Cassano often and didn't have many opportunities to catch up.

"Hi, Raúl," Chen Yingxiong said. Then, after wetting his whole body, he pretended to ask casually, "Are you getting used to Naples?"

This sentence was translated through Sanchez.

"There's nothing I'm not used to. Spain and Italy have things in common, and I'm having a good time."

Raúl had been with the team for more than three months, and no one had ever seen him complain about anything. Even the terrible and chaotic traffic in Naples didn't elicit any complaints from him. You couldn't tell at all that he used to be a prince of the Bernabéu, from a giant club like Real Madrid. He was really low-key. However, Chen Yingxiong interpreted Raúl's low-key as depression...

"When are you moving?" Chen Yingxiong asked again.

"It'll be soon. Don't worry, when I move, I'll definitely invite everyone to visit," Raúl said with a smile.

"That... I watched that match, don't listen to the media's nonsense, it's definitely not your fault that we didn't win..."

Chen Yingxiong began to earnestly enlighten Raúl. He had never done this work before, because he was not the captain, and it was not his turn to do this kind of thing. However, Raúl's performance and condition directly affected Napoli's performance in the Champions League, determined whether Napoli could qualify from the group stage, and also determined whether Chen Yingxiong could win the Champions League Golden Boot this season.

Because it was his first time doing it, he had no experience, so even his words were not very smooth.

Raúl listened and smiled.

He understood what this young man was thinking.

He was here to enlighten and comfort himself, afraid that the pressure would be too great and something would go wrong.

But out of courtesy, he didn't interrupt Chen Yingxiong's stumbling words.

After the other party finished speaking, he smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Hero. But I'm really fine, I don't have any pressure."

Chen Yingxiong stared at him with wide eyes: "Really?"

Raúl nodded: "I played for Real Madrid for fifteen years and was the first captain for seven years. Pressure is something that accompanies me almost every day."

He tried to make his attitude as humble as possible, but he still couldn't hide the pride from the bottom of his heart.

"The criticism here is much gentler than the criticism in Madrid."

Chen Yingxiong thought about it, and it was true. What is pressure to someone who came from Real Madrid? It's commonplace!

Thinking about it this way, he was a little embarrassed to come. It turned out that he was being nosy.

Raúl saw Chen Yingxiong's embarrassment.

"But I still want to thank you, Hero. You know what? Before I came, I heard many people talk about you, but in their mouths, you weren't a good guy..."

Chen Yingxiong became interested as soon as he heard this and was no longer embarrassed: "What did they say about me?"

Seeing his eagerness and excitement, Raúl was puzzled: "Are you so interested in other people saying bad things about you?"

Chen Yingxiong nodded: "Of course, of course. All the enemy's slanders against me are praise. I like to hear the enemy's curses against me, hahaha!" After he finished laughing, he asked, "What did they say?"

"They said you were rude, impolite, uneducated, didn't know how to respect people, and said you were like a child who hadn't grown up..."

Every time he said a "crime," Chen Yingxiong nodded, seeming to enjoy such an evaluation very much.

"But now I think you're different from what they said. You're a very good person to get along with."

Chen Yingxiong grinned and smiled: "The hero of our own people is naturally the big bad guy in the enemy's mouth. This is all praise, hahaha!"