“Unbelievable! Unbelievable!”

“My God! What did I just see?!”

“GooooooooooooooooooL——!!”

“This is incredible! Napoli takes the lead on the road—but that’s not the incredible part, but…the goal was scored by Chen Hero, and the way he scored was…a direct free kick from more than thirty meters away from the goal!”

“What? Chen Hero scored a direct free kick? And from more than thirty meters away from the goal!? You must be surprised when you hear this news, right? Yes, I am as surprised as you are!”

……

When Chen Hero scored, the commentators went crazy. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Because this was indeed a bit beyond their understanding—it was well known that Chen Hero was not good at taking free kicks, and he had never been seen taking them before.

So when Chen Hero stood in front of the football, preparing to take the free kick, everyone felt surprised. Inter Milan fans were even relieved.

Who would have thought that the football would be blasted in by Chen Hero!

Chen Hero looked particularly excited after scoring!

In fact, he had no idea whether this ball would go in or not. He just suddenly became interested and wanted to try it. After all, it was such a long-distance free kick, and the opponent didn't take it seriously, so he felt that it was no different from the long-range shooting practice in training…

So he kicked it according to his own method, but he didn't expect it to really go in!

Chen Hero didn't need to run to Mourinho and lift up his jersey to remind the other party who he was.

He opened his arms and ran to the sidelines, then did a diving landing celebration.

He was then crushed under by his teammates who also dived over.

The shouts of Napoli fans rang out in the San Siro stadium.

Of course, the Inter Milan fans, who were more numerous, immediately booed, drowning out the voices of these Napoli fans…

※※※

“Oh oh oh! Beautiful direct free kick! Beautiful powerful direct free kick! Chen Hero!!” Liu Jianhong was particularly excited. Every time Chen Hero scored, he would be very excited—in China, his evaluation as a commentator was not high. He was lifeless when commentating on other games, and some people even summarized that the sentence he said the most when commentating on the Chinese team's games was: "There is not much time left for the Chinese team!"

But when commentating on Chen Hero's games, he swept away that hypnotic style of always being half-asleep. He didn't know why. If it was because Chen Hero was a Chinese player, his compatriot, and it aroused his patriotic emotions…but the Chinese national team's games had eleven of his compatriots, and he didn't see him having any passion.

But no matter what the reason, it was always a good thing that his commentary was passionate—what he didn't know was that in St. Petersburg, Russia, there was also a commentator who was very steady and changed his style because of Chen Hero.

At this moment, Hilgayevsky was roaring into the microphone: “Hero—Hero! Hero hero hero hero hero!!! His powerful long-range free kick flew directly into the goal! It's so beautiful!”

The Italian Serie A is also broadcast in Russia, so fans in St. Petersburg can watch Serie A games every weekend. However, they still can't compare with Chinese fans, because the TV station doesn't broadcast Napoli's games every weekend. They broadcast the games of the top three teams in the north more often…

Today's game happened to be because Napoli's opponent was Inter Milan, so they were able to see Chen Hero again.

※※※

Napoli's players were celebrating, while Inter Milan's players generally had bad faces.

They didn't expect to concede a goal in this way.

Cesar knelt on the ground, turned his head and stared blankly at the football in the net, opening his arms, very helpless.

But all these players combined probably didn't have as bad a complexion as Mourinho alone.

His bad complexion was not entirely because Chen Hero scored a goal, but more because the team was behind and had one less player…

This was the root cause of his bad complexion.

The first half of the game was not over yet, and he had already lost a center-back, and was still behind in the score. This second half…would be difficult to play!

As early as when Lucio was sent off, he had already told Chivu to warm up.

Who should he substitute?

He definitely couldn't move the defense, so he could only sacrifice the offense…

※※※

While Mourinho was racking his brains about who to substitute, Mazzarri next door was celebrating the goal with his colleagues.

"I think we should arrange free kick training for Hero starting today!" Assistant coach Viviani shouted excitedly.

It wasn't really to let Chen Hero practice free kicks, it was just a way to express his excitement…

But Mazzarri felt that this matter might be worth a try…

He had seen Chen Hero's powerful shooting power in training. It was not uncommon for the goalkeeper to try to catch the ball directly, but have it knocked out of his hands. However, in actual games, there were rarely times when there was no interference, allowing him to fully exert his shooting power.

Maybe it's really worth a try?

※※※

Three minutes after the game restarted, Inter Milan finally made a substitution.

Mourinho replaced Eto'o with Chivu.

He didn't replace Diego Milito because Milito had been in good form recently, and Mourinho still wanted to use his form to score a goal in the frontcourt. As for Eto'o… he hadn't found his form so far. Although he was quite active in tracking back, what the team needed now was not tracking back, but offense!

At his home stadium, Mourinho was not conservative.

In fact, it was impossible for him to be conservative—trailing by one goal, how could he be conservative? Did he have to accept the fact that he was going to lose at home?

Never!

※※※

Many people always feel that having one more player than the other side seems to be a great advantage, but in reality? In the game, you can't always feel the advantage in numbers. Because the side with fewer players will always choose to retreat and defend, first consolidate the defense, and then look for opportunities to counterattack.

This was the case with Mourinho and Inter Milan now.

Although they were behind in the score, they were not in a hurry to launch a large-scale counterattack. Instead, they brought on a defender and took off a forward to strengthen their defense first. Let the defense, which was missing a center-back, stabilize.

Napoli had originally planned to use their numerical advantage to strengthen their offense and try to extend their lead before the end of the first half.

But Inter Milan chose to shrink their defense.

Mourinho's requirement for the players was that they could not concede another goal before the end of the first half.

As for equalizing the score, or even reversing the score at home, let's leave that to the second half.

Mourinho was very confident in his adjustments during halftime.

He always had a small notebook with him. Most of the time, during the first half of the game, TV viewers could always see Mourinho burying his head and writing something in the notebook.

That was recording the results he observed from the first half of the game, and then during halftime, he would make targeted adjustments based on these results. For example, if the opponent's winger was very sharp, then during halftime he would ask the team to make more use of the space behind them after their winger pressed forward. In this way, the opponent's full-back would naturally not dare to press forward, and the defensive crisis on his side's wing would also be resolved.

Only trailing by one goal was not the end of the world for Mourinho. With his excellent adjustments during halftime, he believed that he would turn the situation around in the second half.

As soon as Inter Milan shrank, Napoli's offense became all thunder and little rain—it looked like they had formed a siege of Inter Milan, with great momentum, but in reality? There were not many truly threatening shots.

Chen Hero was even more trapped in the opponent's sea of people, with no decent scoring opportunities.

As a result, Napoli failed to extend their lead as they wished until the end of the first half.

The score was still 0:1, with Inter Milan trailing at home.

But judging from the reactions of the players from both sides when they left the field, and the cheers of the Inter Milan fans in the stands, it seemed that Inter Milan was still in the upper hand…

The expression on Mazzarri's face was also very serious. Of course, he knew that Mourinho would make adjustments during halftime. What should his team do in the second half?

Chen Hero didn't think so much. When he left the field, he had a relaxed and happy smile on his face.

No matter what, he scored a goal in the first half, and it was a direct free kick that he had never scored before. He had enough reason to feel happy and satisfied with his performance.

The coach's worries were not his, and they did not affect his mood.

"The first half of the game is over. It is a pity that Napoli was unable to continue to extend its lead in the first half. However, for Chinese fans, it is enough for us to feel satisfied that Hero scored a very beautiful direct free kick in the game… In the second half, let us continue to look forward to his wonderful performance!"

Liu Jianhong said before the end of the first half's broadcast.

"Chen Hero said last season that he would double-kill the defending champions. In the first forty-five minutes of this game, he made a good start for this goal…" The Italian commentator also believed that in terms of Napoli, Chen Hero's performance was very outstanding. No matter what troubles Napoli would encounter in the second half, Chen Hero was the undisputed best player on Napoli's side.

※※※

Mourinho saw the somewhat depressed Lucio in the locker room. He knew very well that because of his momentary impulsiveness, his team had fallen into the predicament of playing with fewer players early on. What made him even more painful was that his team conceded a goal because of this foul—he absolutely did not expect that Chen Hero would be able to blast the football in from such a long distance, otherwise he would rather not commit the foul…

He thought that Mourinho would roar at him loudly and scold him.

But no.

Mourinho just patted him on the shoulder: "Don't take it to heart, Lucimar (Lucio's real name). It was just an accident."

Mourinho's approach immediately swept away the tense atmosphere that permeated the Inter Milan locker room.

After comforting Lucio, Mourinho clapped his hands, and then he raised his voice and said: "Alright, gentlemen. I am very sorry that we are behind by one goal and have one less player in the first half. But don't forget that this is our home field, so don't be dejected, let us think of ways to defeat them!"