Chapter 11 The First Fan Club in Naples

Chen Yingxiong really didn't know that in a corner of Naples, his first Neapolitan fan club had been born.

At this moment, he had already set off for Turin in northern Italy.

November 2nd, Round 11 of the league, Napoli challenged Juventus away.

After finishing the game against AC Milan at home, it was another tough battle.

Considering that after this game, the team would go to the icy and snowy St. Petersburg to challenge Zenit, a match that could determine whether the team could successfully advance from the group stage.

So this time, even Chen Yingxiong did not appear in the starting lineup. He went to Turin, but as a bench player.

Chen Yingxiong, who had successfully signed Inzaghi in the virtual copy, suddenly wasn't so concerned about earning jifen (points) anymore. After all…following Inzaghi to learn would take at least a season. Now his experience only needed to be used for leveling up.

Since he wasn't in a hurry to earn jifen (points), Chen Yingxiong didn't have such a strong obsession with starting against Juventus. He would listen to whatever the coach arranged. The coach was letting them rest to prepare for the away game against Zenit.

In fact, Chen Yingxiong was also considering this game.

Chen Yingxiong was very clear about how strong Zenit's home field was.

If Napoli's home field only created trouble for opponents because of the fans' terrifying momentum, then Zenit's home field was terrifying even without a single fan…provided it was winter.

It had already snowed in St. Petersburg in October, and the temperature plummeted in November, with wind and snow. The climate was undoubtedly harsh for Napoli.

Under such circumstances, Napoli had no intention of conserving their strength to deal with Juventus when they were going north to challenge Zenit in St. Petersburg, right?

In the end, Napoli, playing with an all-substitute lineup, lost to the home team Juventus 1:3 away from home. Chen Yingxiong didn't get a single minute of playing time. Except for getting up to warm up for a little over ten minutes, he sat on the bench and watched the entire game.

After the game, no one felt strange or angry about the team losing to Juventus away from home, because everyone knew what Mazzarri had given up this game for.

Compared to the Champions League, the opponents in the domestic league naturally became less important—teams like Juventus could be faced at least twice a season. If they lost this time, they would have a chance to take revenge next time. What about the Champions League? They were able to enter the main competition this season, but who knew if they would be able to next season…Therefore, Napoli's strategic focus was currently on the Champions League. They weren't considering anything other than the Champions League. At least they would wait and see after the Champions League group stage ended. If Napoli could miraculously break into the knockout stage, they would definitely continue to work hard in the Champions League and strive to go further. If they were eliminated in the group stage, they would honestly focus on the league and strive to qualify for the Champions League again next season.

Didn't De Laurentiis say that in five years, he wanted to make Napoli a new powerhouse? If a team couldn't even participate in the Champions League every year, how could they talk about becoming a powerhouse?

Therefore, this away defeat did not cause any storm in Naples or even in Italy, such as a crisis of confidence in Mazzarri…

In fact, Mazzarri had already done a very good job. This was his first "complete" season coaching Napoli, and he had led the team to good results in the Champions League group stage, which made people very interested in what results he could bring to the team if he could continue to coach Napoli…

※※※

Returning to Naples from Turin, the whole team began to prepare for the match against Zenit St. Petersburg.

But the preparation was still the same old thing. The Napoli players were very clear about what the team's tactics were. They practiced those things every day in training. Judging from the training, Mazzarri didn't plan to come up with anything new in St. Petersburg.

What everyone was most concerned about was not tactics or lineups, but the weather.

"Is winter in St. Petersburg really that cold?" When Chen Yingxiong vividly told his teammates the funny story of someone getting drunk and peeing on a tree in the middle of the night in heavy snow, only to be frozen in place, a teammate asked Arshavin, a native of St. Petersburg, with trepidation.

"It's not as exaggerated as he said." Arshavin, who could barely communicate with everyone in Italian, smiled. "But it is very cold. I think…you may not be used to that kind of weather."

Chen Yingxiong saw that some people didn't believe what he said, so he glared his eyes: "Hey, Maggio you kid…if you don't believe it, you can just take a piss outside when you get to St. Petersburg! When that time comes, you'll really have to leave your roots in St. Petersburg…"

"I'm not an exhibitionist!" Maggio said unhappily.

"Hahaha!" The laughter of his teammates rang out in the locker room.

"Anyway! You have to pay special attention to keeping warm! Chris…" Chen Yingxiong especially "kindly" reminded Maggio.

"Damn!" Maggio raised his middle finger at Chen Yingxiong.

Everyone laughed very happily, as if the cold of St. Petersburg was just a joke Chen Yingxiong was making on Maggio…

In fact, Chen Yingxiong just hoped that everyone wouldn't pay too much attention to the weather, making them timid…He was doing this to distract his teammates.

But he wasn't sure if what he was doing was effective.

But he himself was actually looking forward to returning to St. Petersburg.

Although he only stayed there for two years, it left a deep impression on him. Here, he had a large number of fans and enjoyed star-level treatment. Although the Russian league was only a relatively closed competition, and Zenit St. Petersburg wasn't considered a powerhouse before he came, he was like a local emperor here. He was the hero of this city!

Now, what would await this hero who had returned to the place where he made his name?

Would there be scantily clad, sexy babes with nipple outlines?

※※※

Napoli's trip to St. Petersburg seemed to be unlucky from the start.

First, halfway through the flight, they received a broadcast saying that the weather in St. Petersburg was abnormal, with strong winds and heavy snow, and poor visibility, and that they might have to return…This caused a commotion among the Napoli team. Then, after waiting anxiously and uneasily for half an hour, they said that the weather in St. Petersburg was slightly better, and they would continue to St. Petersburg as planned.

Just as the plane was about to fly over St. Petersburg, it encountered turbulence again, and the plane jolted violently. At that moment, Chen Yingxiong almost thought he was going to die…The thought that popped into his head was—if this happened, could Dracula come over to save him?

Fortunately, it was just a short period of turbulence, and the plane stabilized again.

Then, the Russian captain with a heavy Russian accent spoke in Italian in the cabin: "Haha! Congratulations to everyone for escaping death! Please rest assured about our plane! It's made in Russia!"

The people who had escaped death were in no mood to argue with this smug captain, but instead applauded enthusiastically—after all, having walked through the gates of hell, they really had to thank the pilot for his excellent skills. If they died here, this book would have to end here…Obviously, this was definitely not what everyone wanted to see.

Having passed the turbulence, the plane still didn't land, but circled over St. Petersburg, waiting for instructions from the air traffic control tower. Due to the previous weather conditions, many flights had been delayed, and the airport dispatch had to direct those delayed planes to take off. At the same time, there were many planes like theirs circling in the air waiting to land. Everyone needed to queue up in order of arrival, unless your fuel was about to run out, then you could cut in line…

They circled like this for who knows how many laps. When the fuselage shook and finally glided onto the runway, a huge applause and whistling erupted in the cabin. After experiencing so many changes, everyone was sincerely happy and grateful that they could still get off the plane alive.

Many of the Napoli players were among them. As celebrities, they were perhaps more afraid of death than ordinary people…

Mazzarri even wiped the sweat from his forehead when he unbuckled his seat belt. He thought that next time the team went to an Eastern European country for an away game, he would have to suggest that the club owner arrange a private jet…This kind of torture really had a serious impact on the team's combat effectiveness.

Air disasters had always had a profound impact on the world of football. Manchester United and Turin had both been wiped out by a plane crash at their peak. He didn't want his Napoli to encounter this damn thing either.

He even wanted to ask the club chairman to arrange a private plane to pick them up after the away game…

After the plane came to a stop, many people unbuckled their seat belts, preparing to leave the plane. Napoli was the first to disembark because they were all in first class.

Walking at the front of the team was the team captain, Paolo Cannavaro. He was the first to walk out of the cabin door and onto the gangway. And then…

He shivered.

Christian Maggio, who was following behind him, didn't expect the captain to stop suddenly. He didn't brake in time and bumped into him. Then he looked up and opened his mouth to ask, "What's…"

As soon as he opened his mouth, a gust of wind blew, and the piercingly cold air rushed into his mouth with the wind…

Next, everyone saw Maggio cover his mouth, bend over, and cough violently.

The third to come out, Hamsik, sneezed loudly.

At this moment, the voices of all the crew members standing at the cabin door to see the passengers off, including the big bearded captain, rang out: "Welcome to St. Petersburg!"

Amidst Maggio's red-faced cough that even brought tears to his eyes, St. Petersburg gave the entire Napoli team a resounding blow…