Chapter 34

As Chen Hero fell to the ground, the whistle blew. The commentators already knew what was about to happen.

"Oh, oh—no! Lucio is going to be sent off! His sliding tackle didn't get the ball, but tripped Chen Hero instead…"

Sure enough, the referee ran over, a red card in his hand.

Lucio got up from the ground and saw the red card in the referee's hand. He was stunned for a moment, then rushed towards the referee.

"It wasn't intentional!"

This was the only defense he could offer.

Of course, he knew he had committed a foul, but he was hoping for a yellow card.

He never expected the referee to impose the death penalty on him!

"It's a dive! He's diving!"

Another center back, his partner Samuel, roared at the referee.

Other Inter Milan players also rushed up, trying to influence the referee's decision and make him withdraw the red card.

But it was useless. The referee could see very clearly whether it was a dive or not. When Lucio made the tackle, there was nothing blocking his view, and he saw the ball clearly.

Lucio didn't touch the ball; he tripped Chen Hero. If he hadn't tripped Chen Hero, Chen Hero would have had a clear path straight to goalkeeper Julio Cesar. So this foul deserved a straight red card, and Lucio wasn't wronged.

He ran up to Lucio, raised his arm, and held up a red card high!

Lucio was sent off.

On the sidelines, Mourinho was furious with the referee's decision. He roared at the fourth official, "It's definitely a dive! A dive!"

Seeing that the fourth official ignored him, he shouted into the field, "Hey! You, you're a cheat! A cheat! A cheat!"

But other than shouting a few words to vent his anger, he couldn't do anything else.

Lucio finally walked off the field, looking disgruntled. Amidst the boos of the Meazza, he went straight into the tunnel leading to the locker room.

The boos of the Meazza were not for Lucio, but for Chen Hero and the referee.

Although slow-motion replays had cleared Chen Hero's name, proving that he wasn't diving, the home team fans didn't care. Fans were not rational; all they knew was that Chen Hero's fall and the referee's red card had cost them a player, and the player was their most important center back…

Mourinho didn't have time to argue with the fourth official and Chen Hero. He was already telling substitute center back Materazzi to warm up.

Lucio had been sent off, leaving a gap in the two-center-back defense that had to be filled, otherwise Napoli would definitely seize the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. If they scored a goal, it would be terrible…

Materazzi put on a yellow vest and ran to the warm-up area. He wouldn't have much time to warm up; he had to do it quickly.

In the meantime, Montari would temporarily fill in as a center back.

Mourinho was already waving his arms on the sidelines, shouting for Montari to fill in as a center back.

But in reality, the problem facing Inter Milan was not the center back position, but defending Napoli's free kick from the edge of the box.

But no one took this problem seriously. After all, the free kick was thirty-four meters from the goal, and the position was slightly off-center. There was no long-range free kick expert in Napoli's lineup who could shoot the ball into the goal from so far away—Mourinho was very clear about this.

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This was a direct free kick. Hamsik and Cassano stood in front of the ball, discussing how to take it.

Shoot directly? Neither of them had that intention.

It was too far, the accuracy rate was very low, and wasting an opportunity so easily was… not worth it.

They still had to pass the ball out, but should they pass it directly into the penalty area for Chen Hero and the captain to fight for a header? Or should they pass it short and reorganize the attack?

The two had different opinions.

"Let's pass it long into the box," Hamsik thought it would be more threatening.

"No, let's reorganize the attack," Cassano shook his head in rejection.

Chen Hero ran over, "Stop arguing, I'll take it!" He picked up the ball and placed it on the penalty spot.

The two were dumbfounded. "You take it?"

Everyone knew that Chen Hero couldn't take free kicks. Was he here to mess around?

"Can you take free kicks?" Cassano asked Chen Hero.

"This kind of free kick… isn't it just like our long-range shooting practice in training?" Chen Hero pointed to the front and said.

Inter Milan's wall was loosely formed, dragging its feet. Because the goal was thirty-four meters away, Inter Milan's players didn't think anyone in Napoli's lineup could directly threaten Cesar's goal, so they were a bit absent-minded about setting up the wall.

Their thoughts were the same as Hamsik and Cassano, and they were thinking about preventing Napoli's second attack.

Cassano glanced at it, then clapped his hands with a smile, "You're right, Hero! Just put in the same effort as you do in long-range shooting in training!"

Since they didn't have much hope of scoring a goal, Hamsik thought it would be good to let Chen Hero try a free kick, so he nodded in agreement.

"Do you want us to screen for you?" Hamsik asked.

Chen Hero shook his head, "No need."

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"Hero is holding the ball and placing it on the ground… does he want to take this free kick?" The commentators were also surprised.

"Does anyone know if he's good at taking free kicks?"

"I do know that he has an excellent long-range shot… but there's still a difference between a free kick and a long-range shot…"

Amidst the commentators' surprised voices, Chen Hero had already prepared to take the free kick. He placed the ball properly, then stepped back.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, five steps… He took a big step back, retreating about six or seven meters, and stopped.

Seeing him like this, Hamsik and Cassano didn't screen for him. One ran into the penalty area, and the other stood aside as a spectator.

When Inter Milan saw that Chen Hero was going to take the free kick, they added another person to the wall—after all, they knew about Chen Hero's long-range shots.

This way, there were finally five people in the wall.

"It seems that Chen Hero is really going to take this free kick…"

Cassano walked away, and Hamsik was farther away from the ball than Chen Hero. It was basically a certainty that Chen Hero would take the free kick.

Julio Cesar stood in front of the goal, looking at the distant ball, which seemed particularly far away.

He didn't know how far it was, but he knew that it would be difficult to shoot directly from this position. What if the opponent really shot directly? He was confident he could save it. From such a long distance, the goal also looked smaller, and it wasn't easy to hit the target, let alone find an angle to guarantee a goal—because if the shot was too straight, he could easily block it. He, Cesar, was no small fry. In Serie A now, his form had surpassed Buffon, making him the number one goalkeeper in Serie A.

Want to score a long-range shot like that in front of him?

You have to find the right angle.

If you focus on the angle… then the ball could fly anywhere!

So, he wasn't too worried.

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Chen Hero taking the free kick surprised even the Napoli coaching staff on the sidelines, because this kid had never practiced free kicks in training, and Mazzarri had never arranged for him to practice—because he didn't think the guy was interested in it.

Who would have thought that he would suddenly have a whim and want to try a free kick today?

But wasn't this free kick a bit too far?

More than thirty meters from the goal.

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Chen Hero stood in front of the ball, and Inter Milan's wall was already set up. Because he had never taken a free kick before, Napoli didn't know how to cooperate with him. If it were another player who was good at long-range free kicks, his teammates would definitely try to squeeze into the opponent's wall, and then suddenly withdraw when the ball was kicked, leaving a path—this was often a specific tactic formed through long-term practice and coordination.

But Chen Hero didn't have such support.

But he had his own way.

Just like he said just now—isn't it just a long-range shot from a bit further away? And no one's defending!

He felt no pressure.

The referee blew the whistle in his mouth, and the clear sound of the whistle rang out in the Meazza Stadium, making the stadium a little quieter.

Everyone focused their attention on Chen Hero.

He heard the whistle, then bent down and started to sprint forward.

One step, two steps, four steps, five steps… He took a few steps back at the beginning, and now he sprinted the same number of steps. In the last step, he firmly planted his left foot on the left side of the ball, swung his right leg over, and hit the ball hard with the instep of his foot!

"Bang!"

The ball soared into the air, carrying grass clippings, and flew towards Inter Milan's goal.

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When Chen Hero started to run up, no one thought there was anything special about this free kick, but after the ball was kicked out, everyone realized that something was wrong.

Because… the ball was terrifyingly fast!

In Julio Cesar's view, it was almost instantaneous, and the ball went from small to large!

He reflexively jumped up to make a save, but the ball had already flown into the goal from his side!

When the ball slammed into the net, the commentators didn't even have time to react—which shows how fast the ball was!

Of course, it was fast, because this was a thunderous blow from Chen Hero with all his might!

How much force did Chen Hero use? After he shot the ball, his whole body was carried by the force of his shot, rotating almost ninety degrees in the air, and he stumbled a bit when he landed, almost losing his balance!

In almost just two seconds, the ball went from being completely still to being wrapped in the net.

Cesar being able to make a save was already very difficult!

But, the loser is the loser, no matter how difficult it is, it cannot change the fact that the ball flew into the goal he was guarding.

He fell to the ground, turning his head to look at the ball in the goal in disbelief, as if he had just had a brief nightmare.

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PS, this is definitely a historic moment worth commemorating! Chen Hero scored the first free kick of his career!

At this historic turning point, please give me your monthly votes!