Chapter 1 After the Christmas Holidays

After the Christmas holidays, Mazzarri had worries.

The worries came from Chen Hero, whose performance in training after the Christmas break was very ordinary... no, it should be described as terrible.

But he didn't know what was wrong.

If Chen Hero wasn't in good form, then Napoli would immediately fall into a state of attacking weakness. Cassano and Arshavin weren't the kind of center forwards who could lay siege to enemy lines, and without Hero's cover, their performance would be greatly reduced.

Mazzarri initially thought it was just an accident, but to his surprise, Chen Hero's condition still showed no signs of recovery during the second day of training. He became anxious.

After thinking about it all night, he felt that he had to prepare for the worst—to let Chen Hero adjust his condition for the entire month of January, in the hope that he could regain his form in the Champions League knockout stage.

In the past two days, media reporters guarding outside the training ground also noticed that Chen Hero's condition wasn't very good through their observations, so the media was also reporting on this matter.

They all knew what Chen Hero's poor condition meant.

If Napoli wanted to achieve excellent results on both fronts this year, Chen Hero was definitely the person they needed to rely on the most.

"...For other Serie A teams, there is now good news, that is, Chen Hero is not in good shape..."

"Although I don't know why, he does show some signs of fatigue..."

"Atalanta is Napoli's next opponent, and now Atalanta's coach Antonio Conte is probably the happiest person..."

However, those media outlets vying to report on Chen Hero's poor condition were dumbfounded on the third day...

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"Wow! Beautiful!" A burst of cheers and applause rang out on the training ground.

Chen Hero had just scored a beautiful header in the team's training match, and more importantly, he seemed full of fighting spirit.

Mazzarri, who was watching the game from the sidelines, smiled.

This was the Chen Hero he wanted to see!

Meanwhile, a group of reporters outside the training ground looked at each other in dismay...

Now, what were they going to write...

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The next day, every reader who went to buy a newspaper could see headlines like these.

《Hero Regains Form, Napoli's Star Striker Returns!》

《Hero's Training Condition is Outstanding》

As for the content, it was extremely nauseating:

"...Yesterday Hero showed a good state in training. He scored a very beautiful goal in the training match..."

"Now I think Atalanta's coach Conte should be racking his brains about how to deal with Hero..."

"Well, life is so full of ups and downs—yesterday we said that there was good news for other teams. Now this good news has turned into bad news..."

The readers' reactions were:

"Damn! Weathervanes!"

"Too shameless!"

……

Looking at the weathervane-like comments about him in the newspaper, Chen Hero smiled happily.

He felt that his emotions had been much higher these days, and he couldn't wait for the game against Atalanta to begin.

Although Cabrera was still as cold as ice, he didn't care. He felt that having one more person in the house was a very important thing.

There was only one thing he didn't notice, and that was that when he was alone with Cabrera, his back was straighter than before...

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The Christmas holiday was only a short ten days, but for football fans who loved the sport, they couldn't stand it even if there was only a week without games.

What's more, since December 20th of last year, there hadn't been a game for fifteen days, a whole half month, and they were all in a state of hunger.

So even just a league game was enough to make the fans enthusiastic.

The status of Serie A was now far from what it used to be. The former "Little World Cup" had become a thing of the past. The English Premier League had replaced Serie A as the leader of European leagues, and even La Liga, which used to be considered inferior, had surpassed them. The Bundesliga was ambitious and determined to become the third...

Serie A was so desolate that many stadiums were empty.

But for Napoli, this was not the case.

For the game against Atalanta on January 6th, statistics showed that more than 15,000 fans followed the team to the away game...

Even in away games, Napoli could often enjoy treatment that was even better than the home team. This made those teams whose stands couldn't even be filled by home fans very envious.

These people followed the team to the north and south, like a blue wave, sweeping across the entire Apennine Peninsula.

This Napoli team, reborn from the ashes, gave people hope for the revitalization of Serie A.

But... first of all, they had to win.

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"There were rumors before that Chen Hero, who was not in good condition in training, will still start in this game..." The commentator was also very good at following the wind, and the poor condition had become a "rumor."

Although Napoli had not yet reached the point where they could walk sideways throughout the entire Apennine Peninsula, their attacking line definitely had the qualifications and strength to do so. Cassano, Arshavin, and Chen Hero were all people who had proven their abilities in their respective fields.

Having this strong attacking line was also the source of Mazzarri's confidence to challenge strong teams.

Chen Hero alone was enough to make his back strong.

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The fans felt hungry and thirsty for days without games, but weren't the players themselves the same?

Especially Chen Hero?

From the first minute of the game, he was full of interest in scoring goals, and he was constantly looking for or waiting for opportunities in the frontcourt with high morale.

Never lose the desire to score goals. This was the first quality Chen Hero learned from Inzaghi in the dungeon.

Off-ball movement still required time, but the desire to score goals was easy to learn. Because Chen Hero himself liked to score goals very much.

Thirty-eighth minute...

"Hero—beautiful!! Signature header! Goal!"

"1:0! Chen Hero opened the scoring for the team!"

"Chen Hero started his 2010 in his favorite way!"

The commentators cheered.

Chen Hero seemed very excited after scoring the goal. He even took off his jersey, which he rarely took off, and threw it aside, revealing his strong muscles and the giant bear tattoo on his back.

It didn't matter if he got a yellow card for this.

"Twelfth goal! Twelfth goal! He scored his twelfth goal of the season! This goal helped him reach the top of the league scorer list!"

Now you know why he used the rarely seen celebration of taking off his clothes and streaking... He had been aiming for this position for more than a day or two!

"Chen Hero scored! Napoli took the lead on the road, making this game easier for them!"

The commentator was right. After Napoli took the lead, the game developed in a direction that favored them.

In the end, Napoli won 2:0 on the road. Chen Hero scored a goal in the game, and the other goal was scored by Ranocchia in a set-piece tactic.

Napoli killed Atalanta in the air.

After the game, Conte said in an interview: "...We know that Hero is a difficult player to deal with. He played very well in today's game. I don't think I have anything to say—Mazzarri has a good hand. All I can do now is wish them to go further in the Champions League..."

This evaluation was quite high, and it was even more commendable because it came from an opponent.

Mazzarri said: "I am very happy to start 2010 with a victory in a game. I hope we can continue to maintain this momentum in the new year."

He said it and did it, and Napoli also said it and did it.

Four days later, on January 10th, in the nineteenth round of the league, Napoli welcomed Sampdoria at home.

Mazzarri and Cassano faced their old club at the Stadio San Paolo.

Would this be a drama full of love and hate?

No.

This was just a game.

Napoli defeated the visiting Sampdoria 1-0 in the cheers of 50,000 Neapolitan fans at home.

Cassano contributed an assist in the game, helping Hamsik score. It can also be regarded as using practical actions to show his old club his current situation...

In fact, there was nothing to hype about this game. After the game, Mazzarri took the initiative to run to Sampdoria's current coach Delneri to hug, shake hands, and say hello. It didn't feel like opponents at all. The coaches of both sides also praised each other's performance in their current positions. It felt like brothers...

What about Cassano? After the game, he went to exchange jerseys with Pazzini.

It looked so harmonious that many media outlets who "feared that the world would not be in chaos" were very disappointed.

Before the game, they had tried their best to provoke conflicts between the two sides, but Mazzarri and Delneri were not fools.

If there was anything worth mentioning, it was probably that Chen Hero shot ten times in the game, but did not score a goal. His position on the league scorer list was also caught up by others. Di Natale scored a goal, and now he and Chen Hero are sharing the first position on the league scorer list with twelve goals.

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After defeating Sampdoria at home, Napoli has achieved a three-game winning streak, and their ranking has also entered the top three, stepping on their arch-rival Juventus.

This made the Napoli fans feel very happy, which made them full of confidence in the team's performance in the Champions League.

Even a Napoli media outlet posted a headline like this:

《Who's Unfortunate to Meet Real Madrid?》

The fearless Napoli was ambitious and began to have ideas about the super giants Real Madrid.

As for all this, Real Madrid did not take it to heart. They were still competing with Barcelona in the domestic league...

After seventeen rounds of La Liga, Real Madrid ranked second in the league standings with a two-point difference, closely following Barcelona.

But they really didn't have to pay attention to the voices from southern Italy, because there was still more than a month before the Champions League Round of 16...

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ps, today's three updates are completed, please look forward to tomorrow's three updates.

Also, I wish you all a happy new year!

On such a beautiful holiday, let's have some monthly tickets to render the festive atmosphere!