Chapter 1 The Opening

Internazionale's start was simply too good to be true; even Inter fans couldn't believe it.

Because they were already in the lead by the twenty-fifth second...

At that time, Maicco made a mistake while dribbling the ball forward on the wing. It was intercepted by Inter players. Then Cambiasso received a pass from his teammate and sent a high-quality diagonal long pass from the wing to the edge of the penalty area. The ball crossed Napoli's entire defense and appeared in the empty space at the edge of the box.

At that moment, Milito was already ahead in the race against Napoli's defenders. Cambiasso's pass found Milito accurately.

If Milito got the ball, he would have a one-on-one opportunity.

Under such circumstances, Napoli's goalkeeper, De Sanctis, had no choice but to abandon his goal and attack.

Since the ball was outside the penalty area, he couldn't use his hands to catch it, so he could only clear it with his head.

De Sanctis executed a very beautiful diving header, shooting out like an arrow, heading the ball back before Milito could reach it!

This should have been a brilliant clearance, fully demonstrating De Sanctis's prediction, decisiveness, and... impressive heading skills.

But what happened next stunned everyone and turned De Sanctis's beautiful clearance into a joke...

The ball was headed directly back to midfield by De Sanctis, landing right in front of Inter player Stanković. He didn't stop the ball but turned sideways, raised his right leg high, and unleashed a volley directly from the center circle!

The ball flew into the unguarded net like a precision-guided cruise missile...

When the ball flew into the goal, the entire Meazza Stadium erupted.

Everyone could hardly believe their eyes.

The commentator roared madly: "Unbelievable! Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable! Inter took the lead in the twenty-fifth second! Stanković scored a goal that could easily be selected as the best goal of the season in the Champions League! A direct volley from the center circle!"

"A world-class goal—this is a true world-class goal! Stanković is good at long shots, but this kind of long shot... is still breathtaking!"

"Internazionale has made a great start! They have leveled the aggregate score in less than a minute and have an away goal advantage! With almost ninety minutes left in the game, Napoli's days won't be easy..."

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After scoring, Stanković rushed to the home team's coaching bench and hugged Leonardo and others.

It seems that Inter is quite united internally.

Mazzarri was a little depressed. Napoli conceded the aggregate score in less than a minute after the start of the game. Napoli's luck was really bad!

But what could he do? Adjust tactics now? Absolutely impossible! There are still ninety minutes left in the game, which is equivalent to not starting yet. What adjustments should be made at this time?

What's more, he believes that Inter's goal was just a matter of luck and didn't necessarily mean their condition was that good. Everything remains to be seen...

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After the game restarted, the entire stadium was discussing Stanković's stunning goal. Not only that, the TV broadcast replayed the goal whenever it had a chance, and the commentators tirelessly talked about how important, how beautiful, and how incredible the goal was...

Some Inter fans in the stands even shed tears of excitement.

This is a very morale-boosting goal, no doubt about it.

But whether it can dampen Napoli's morale... that's not certain.

The entire Napoli team was not dazed and helpless by this goal.

This stemmed from their mobilization in the locker room before the game.

...

In the locker room, Chen Yingxiong was analyzing the situation for everyone: "Barcelona and Real Madrid will definitely get together, there is no suspense about this. If we want revenge, we can only get into the final. So we must win against Inter. I don't know if Barcelona can beat Real Madrid, but this is our only chance! So no matter what happens, we must eliminate Inter!"

...

It was for this reason that Napoli did not panic when they suffered a blow at the start. Because at this time, the thought of revenge surpassed everything. No matter how difficult it is to deal with, as long as we think about avenging Barcelona, these difficulties are nothing!

Therefore, Leonardo did not see the scene he had hoped to see—Napoli, who conceded a goal at the beginning, panicked, the team's offense and defense were disconnected, and they didn't even know how to play the game, a mess like a pot of porridge. And Mazzarri? He stood on the sidelines, anxious and helpless, at a loss for the situation in front of him, unable to find a way to solve it.

No, these scenes only existed in Leonardo's imagination.

Mazzarri was not pacing anxiously in the command area, like a headless fly. The entire Napoli team was not at a loss, not knowing what to do.

In fact, Napoli still wanted to play as they did at the beginning of the game.

Stanković's wonderful goal was just a topic of conversation for Inter fans and did not affect the mood of the Napoli players who were determined to avenge Barcelona.

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On the other hand, Napoli fans were a little worried that conceding a goal so early would affect the team's performance. Especially the commentators who kept saying that conceding a goal in less than a minute after the start of the game was very damaging to morale.

It seemed that Napoli's morale had really dropped to the point where they couldn't continue the game...

But in reality?

Napoli's attack was as consistent as ever!

"Hero—long shot! Beautiful! Cesar made a world-class save, pushing the ball over the crossbar!"

Chen Yingxiong used a powerful long shot to tell those who were fantasizing about seeing Napoli's jokes that they would probably be disappointed.

Napoli won a corner kick, and Inter felt a little nervous.

Because of Chen Yingxiong.

This time, Chen Yingxiong stood in the middle of the goal, in the most crowded area. That was also where everyone wanted him to be. Beside him were Lucio, Samuel, and other Inter players. With him as the center, they surrounded him tightly. Even if Napoli wanted to kick the ball to where he was, Inter would not let him easily head the ball.

Surrounded by Inter players, Chen Yingxiong still raised his hands high, seemingly complaining to the referee about the interference and small movements of the Inter players around him.

However, the referee ignored it.

Instead, Inter's defenders also raised their hands, indicating that they did not have any hand movements and their defense was very clean.

In fact, Chen Yingxiong was not doing it for the referee to see, he was doing it for his teammate Arshavin, who was taking the corner kick, to see.

In the Napoli team, of course, multiple corner kick tactics would be designed to fully utilize Chen Yingxiong's heading power. But because Italian coaches like to do one thing most, which is to study tactics, in order to make their tactics have unexpected elements, the players themselves would design some small movements to express their intentions.

Under normal circumstances, in set pieces such as corner kicks or indirect free kicks, when Chen Yingxiong raises one arm, it means asking his teammate to pass the ball to where he is. What if he raises both hands high? That means asking his teammate to pass the ball to himself.

Is there any difference?

Of course, passing to the point where he is located is a fixed area, passing to himself is telling his teammate that he will move. As for where to move... look at the fingers of the raised hands. If all ten fingers are spread out, into a palm, it means moving forward. If the ten fingers are clenched into a fist, it means moving backward. If only the index fingers of two fingers are extended, it means moving towards the outside of the penalty area.

After the teammate taking the kick sees this, they will know at a glance where to kick the ball.

In fact, as the Serie A teams pay more and more attention to Chen Yingxiong's role in set pieces, Chen Yingxiong can now rarely stay in one place and head the ball into the goal. He must constantly move to find gaps. Fortunately, he learned off-the-ball movement from Inzaghi, otherwise it would not be easy to find gaps in the crowded penalty area.

Now Chen Yingxiong is clenching his hands into fists, which means... I'm going to the back post, so just kick the ball there!

"Fifteenth minute, Napoli won a corner kick. This is their first corner kick of the game. With Hero as the high point, Napoli obviously wants to make good use of this corner kick..."

When Arshavin set the ball and stepped back to prepare to take the kick, Chen Yingxiong stayed obediently in the encirclement.

But when Arshavin started his run-up, Chen Yingxiong also moved. He first made a sprint posture to go to the near post, making Inter's defenders mistakenly believe that he was going to grab the near post, and followed him to run forward. In this way, gaps and cracks appeared in the originally heavily guarded encirclement.

Chen Yingxiong slammed on the brakes, turned sideways and ran backwards, successfully breaking out of the encirclement.

Then he moved backward towards the back post.

At the same time, the ball flew over.

The arc of the ball was high, but the speed was not slow, and it quickly fell down.

Chen Yingxiong jumped up while running backwards, facing the ball head-on.

At this time, there was no Inter player around him. They were all deceived by his feint. When they reacted and turned around, they only saw Chen Yingxiong's figure in the air.

In the air, Chen Yingxiong spread his arms to maintain balance, and then used his waist and abdomen to exert force, and his head leaned forward!

Header!

Just when everyone's hearts were in their throats, Cesar appeared in the right position, using his legs, almost on the goal line, to block the ball out!

A huge sigh of relief sounded in the stands.

It's all over...

No!

The still frightened Inter fans quickly saw Raúl in the crowd sweep the ball that was knocked back by Cesar!

Goal!

The ball flew into the goal!

"goooooooooooooooooooL!!! Raúl! Raúl! Raúl González!! His seventy-second Champions League goal!"

"Napoli has tied the score and regained the lead in the aggregate score!!"

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ps, Because it was too difficult, I was especially excited after the success, so much so that there was a typo in the title of the previous chapter, but it's too troublesome to change it, and it will trouble the editor, so let's just make do with it... Anyway, everyone knows what it means...