Chapter 1 When Ibra Joined Milan

When Zlatan Ibrahimović joined AC Milan on loan, the team's coach, Massimiliano Allegri, excitedly stated, "He, Ronaldinho, and Pato form the most powerful trident attack in the world!"

Although Ibrahimović only scored one goal, AC Milan still ranked third in the league with four wins, two draws, and one loss, totaling fourteen points, surpassing their city rivals, Inter Milan.

However, Allegri dared not be careless in this away game against Napoli.

Even a fool knew what kind of form Chen Hero was in right now.

During the pre-match preparations, he listed Chen Hero as a key player to watch out for, even attributing Napoli's current success to Chen Hero alone.

Said casually, heard intently.

Ibrahimović was very unhappy to hear these words.

His own coach was praising Chen Hero so much. Wasn't this boosting the morale of others and diminishing his own?

How could that be allowed?

He was determined to prove in this match that he was better than Chen Hero and that he was the best center forward.

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"Ronaldinho with a diagonal long pass! Very precise and imaginative!"

The commentator shouted. Ronaldinho's pass cut across most of the field.

It landed accurately near Ibrahimović on the wing.

The Swede stretched out his long legs and hooked the ball down, stopping it very steadily.

Then he used his excellent footwork to dribble the ball towards Napoli's penalty area.

Facing Cristicito, who rushed up to defend, he pretended to cross, tricking Cristicito into rushing forward, leaping into the air, and using his body to block the cross. But he used his right foot to pull the ball behind him.

At the same time, he turned and pushed the ball horizontally, rushing into the penalty area from Cristicito's side!

Once inside the penalty area, it was difficult to stop this Swedish tower. He sprinted forward and then suddenly shot hard from a narrow angle!

The ball grazed the grass and slipped between goalkeeper De Sanctis and the goalpost, nestling into the net!

"Oh... Oh! Oh oh oh!! AC Milan scores first! They take the lead away from home!"

The commentator was stunned for a moment before reacting.

"Ibrahimović! A beautiful goal! He first stopped the ball steadily, then used a brilliant feint to shake off Cristicito, and then... broke into the penalty area and scored with a shot from a narrow angle! Wonderful! This goal fully demonstrates the Swede's superb footwork!"

After scoring, Ibrahimović ran across the field with his arms outstretched, not very fast, like a large glider.

He didn't seem very excited, but in reality, he was overjoyed. Scoring a goal at Napoli's home stadium, scoring such a beautiful goal in front of Chen Hero, didn't this prove that he was better than Chen Hero?

You, Chen Hero, can score a lot of goals, but can you score goals like this!

You can't! I can!

The glider flew around, and even flew in front of Chen Hero on purpose for a lap. He did this deliberately to let Chen Hero see.

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While he was doing this, Chen Hero was rolling his eyes.

Although they didn't communicate, he knew what Ibrahimović meant.

Because he already knew Ibrahimović's attitude towards him from the time he walked the red carpet before the Italian Serie A Oscar awards ceremony—he didn't want to lose to himself in any area, even in such insignificant things as who walked before and who walked after on the red carpet.

But no matter what, the guy had scored a goal after all.

And he was indeed qualified to show off in front of him. If he was unhappy, he had to score a goal to retaliate.

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"The game restarts. Only twenty-two minutes have passed, and Napoli is already behind at home. Napoli's home stadium has always been quite terrifying. They didn't lose a single game at home last season and remain undefeated to this day. So, at the Stadio San Paolo, Napoli possesses tremendous energy. Napoli's fans aren't worried about being behind. There are still sixty-eight minutes left in the game, and Napoli has plenty of time."

The commentator said so, but Napoli failed to equalize the score by the end of the first half. The score remained 1-0, with Napoli behind at home.

During the halftime break, Ibrahimović was in a good mood and was chatting and laughing with Pato as he walked off the field.

What disappointed him slightly was that Chen Hero didn't look dejected like a player from the losing side should. This made it impossible to highlight his own superior image.

During the halftime break, Mazzarri replaced Pazienza with Raúl. He pushed Raúl to the left wing, while Arshavin retreated to the right midfielder position, Hamšík went to the left midfielder, and only De Jong remained in the center.

This arrangement reduced one defensive midfielder and added an offensive player, all in order to launch a counterattack in the second half.

AC Milan made no adjustments. Allegri was very satisfied with his team's performance in the first half.

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The second half resumed with the two sides changing sides. After the tactical adjustments, Napoli, with two wingers, two midfielders, and Chen Hero as the spearhead of the attack, advanced little by little. Although the pace was not fast, they were steady and gradually compressed AC Milan's defense.

And the most important thing in defense is strategic depth. Once the depth is lost, the goal will become very dangerous.

A direct pass could penetrate the defense and reach the heart of AC Milan's penalty area. Like this one in the fifty-fifth minute...

Hamšík made a direct pass on the wing, Raúl suddenly ran from the wing to the inside, and then successfully beat the offside trap, receiving the ball behind all of AC Milan's defenders. While Boateng was still raising his hand to signal that Raúl was offside, he had already shot!

The legend of Real Madrid, this shot was very tricky. The ball bypassed goalkeeper Abbiati's fingers, hit the far post, and then rolled into the net.

Goal!

"Raúl! Raúl González—!! Goal! Goal! Napoli equalizes the score ten minutes into the second half!"

"This is his second league goal for the team! He stood up when the team needed him most! It seems that leaving Real Madrid was a very correct choice for him..." This commentator had previously said that Raúl would not find his form even if he left Real Madrid when he repeatedly failed to score...

After scoring, Raúl made his most classic celebration—kissing his finger while running, although there was no ring there, everyone knew what it meant.

This is also the origin of his nickname "Lord of the Rings."

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Raúl's goal brought the two sides back to the same starting line. This game would not end like this. Neither Napoli nor AC Milan would give up easily.

So, equalizing the score was just the prelude to a more intense match.

In the following game, the two sides exchanged attacks in a lively manner.

Chen Hero waited and searched for his own opportunity in these waves of attacks.

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The four defenders that AC Milan fielded in this game were Nesta, Papastathopoulos, Bonera, and Antonini.

Thiago Silva, who had been completely defeated by Chen Hero in a previous match, was absent from this game due to injury.

But Chen Hero would not lack old acquaintances.

Papastathopoulos was one of them.

This center back, who was still playing for Genoa last season, became famous for grabbing Chen Hero's balls. At the World Cup that ended this summer, he once again performed his bird-grabbing stunt, this time the victim was Messi.

Later, many media outlets used the picture of Messi's crotch being firmly grasped in Papastathopoulos's hand to illustrate how cruelly Messi was treated and how closely he was defended. But Chen Hero had already experienced this back in Serie A.

In that game, he completely crushed Papastathopoulos.

In the sixty-third minute, Napoli won a corner kick.

Chen Hero squeezed into the penalty area and looked up to see Papastathopoulos standing next to him, so he smiled at the Greek center back.

The Greek center back was shocked by Chen Hero's smile.

Then he thought of the unbearable past from last season...

This person, this person... is someone you can't stop even if you grab his balls...

But unfortunately, in this game, Allegri asked him and Nesta to defend Chen Hero together.

This was too坑爹 (kēng diē -坑爹 is a slang, here meaning unfair). Unfortunately, he couldn't say anything.

He had to bite the bullet. The first half was relatively calm, and Chen Hero's performance was not very eye-catching. But in the second half, as Napoli made personnel adjustments, his pressure increased linearly.

At this moment, Nesta's voice rang behind him: "Sokratis! Stick to Hero, you must stick to him!"

He took another step forward, looked up, and saw Chen Hero still smiling at him, making his scalp tingle.

After Chen Hero finished smiling, he shifted his gaze and stared at the corner flag area.

With a whistle, Hamšík kicked the ball out.

The ball went straight to the most crowded place in the middle.

Papastathopoulos, who was sticking close to Chen Hero, had to pay attention to both Chen Hero and the ball, which was a little distracting. Just as he turned his head to see if the ball had been kicked out, he felt the person next to him move.

He quickly turned around and saw Chen Hero甩开 (shuǎi kāi - shake off) him and run to the back point. He quickly followed, not caring about the situation of the ball behind him.

Just as he caught up, he saw Chen Hero fold back!

He was rushing towards him!

Papastathopoulos was so frightened that he thought the other party was going to directly撞 (zhuàng - bump) into him, and instinctively wanted to dodge. At this moment, Chen Hero jumped high!

The ball arrived, and the man arrived!

Although there was still Nesta, he had been blocked behind by Chen Hero's movement just now.

"Hero—!!"

The commentators roared. In their echoing shouts, Chen Hero was high above, facing the direction the ball was flying from, meeting the ball, using his waist and abdomen to exert force, and heading the ball!

Abbiati leapt up and pounced towards the ball, but his reach was insufficient. The ball drew a slight parabola and fell into the far corner of the goal...