Chen Yingxiong and Busquets, as well as Arshavin and Cassano's "handshake gate" incident, set the tone for this match.

This match would definitely not be an ordinary Champions League final.

Chen Yingxiong, having lost face, would certainly not let it go, and would definitely find an opportunity to vent his anger during the match. And Busquets, who had been played by Arshavin and Cassano, was probably holding back a lot of anger as well.

As for the other Barcelona and Napoli players, don't think you can just sit on the sidelines.

Everyone is a teammate, and they can all empathize with their teammates' experiences. It's just that some people choose to express it in a more intense way, like Arshavin and Cassano. And some people choose to suppress it temporarily and then explode during the match.

The "handshake gate" further intensified the conflict between the two sides. The two teams, already at odds, were now truly locked in a battle to the death.

The TV cameras kept scanning the faces of the people involved in the subsequent period, and it didn't stop until the game started.

Anyway, it was to tell everyone that these people were particularly important, and everyone should keep a close eye on them during the game to see what kind of sparks they could create...

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"The referee blows his whistle, and the game begins!"

Chen Yingxiong kicked the football out, and a burst of flashlights flashed in the stands, like stars in the night sky.

This highly anticipated final, which had been plagued by unexpected incidents right up until the start of the game, had finally begun!

Barcelona and Napoli, these two sworn enemies, were facing off on the highest stage of European football. Who would prevail?

Although the game had started, the Catalan commentators were still endlessly discussing the "handshake gate" incident just now.

In his opinion, although Busquets was the first to ignore Chen Yingxiong, the root cause of the mistake was still with Chen Yingxiong. Because if he hadn't frequently started a war of words before the game, offending almost all of the Barcelona players, he certainly wouldn't have been treated like this by Busquets.

This commentator had obviously forgotten who had started talking about Chen Yingxiong before the game...

He Ping and Zhang Lu were the commentators and commentators for this game on China Central Television. He Ping's attitude towards the "handshake gate" incident was very clear—he firmly supported his compatriot Chen Yingxiong, even if he was scolded by Chinese Barcelona fans as a "yellow dog," he would accept it.

"Busquets' approach is a bit inappropriate... No matter what kind of grievances he has with Yingxiong, he shouldn't have done such a thing at this time..."

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In the first five minutes of the game, the focus of commentators from various countries was still on the "handshake gate" incident between the two sides. However, there were no particularly exciting scenes in these five minutes. Both sides were still in the probing stage, and they were both very careful and cautious. So no one felt that the commentators were digressing.

Napoli organized an attack, reached the Barcelona penalty area, and was destroyed by Piqué.

Taking advantage of Barcelona's counterattack, there was a shot, but Villa's shot went high under Ranocchia's close interference.

This was the only shot in five minutes.

Although the quality of the offense was not high, the atmosphere was indeed very tense.

Napoli's defense from the beginning was very fierce. When they were fighting close to the body, they made a lot of movements with their hands.

In the first five minutes, the referee stopped the game three times, and three fouls were given to Napoli. But no cards were issued.

This made the Catalan commentator a little dissatisfied: "Viktor Kassai has never refereed a Barcelona game. Yes, I am fully aware that his resume is real. Because if he had refereed a Barcelona game, he should know that if Napoli's momentum is not curbed, the game will definitely go in the wrong direction! I know what Napoli wants to do!"

Since the commentator knew, did Guardiola naturally know as well?

Yes, Guardiola sat on the coach's bench, watching the game on the field.

He knew what Mazzarri wanted to do. Obviously, he hoped to gain an advantage by using fierce pressing, causing Barcelona to lose their composure under the fierce pressing.

But he was not flustered.

Many people think that pressing can make Barcelona lose their composure. They are right, but this was the view four or five years ago. Today's Barcelona has been kneaded into a whole by him, Guardiola. Everyone knows very well what they should do, and the degree of tacit understanding is very high. Pressing will not make Barcelona overwhelmed, but will only expose the loopholes in their defense, thereby providing opportunities for Barcelona.

He even wished that Napoli would do this, because it would only make Napoli lose even worse.

He was not afraid of Napoli's pressing, he was only worried about Chen Yingxiong.

A few weeks ago, Chen Yingxiong encountered a backlash from the home fans in Napoli. In theory, this kind of thing would be a heavy blow to anyone. Who would have thought that Chen Yingxiong was not affected at all.

However, the Catalan media once again vowed that Chen Yingxiong's state was just a habit. When the league ends, the impact will gradually begin to appear...

In addition, Napoli has been in closed training, and news about Chen Yingxiong is completely unavailable, so he is not sure what state Chen Yingxiong is in now, whether he is at the end of his strength, or... at his peak?

He planned to observe. He had forty-five minutes to do this. During the halftime break, he had to make corresponding countermeasures and adjustments based on his observations. If Chen Yingxiong was in poor condition, then there was nothing to worry about. This championship must belong to our Barcelona. If Chen Yingxiong was in excellent condition, then... we have to find a way to contain him.

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Five minutes is almost the blink of an eye on the intense playing field. When the commentators finished their long-winded nonsense, five minutes of the game had passed. Now they were just beginning to read out the starting lineups of both sides.

However, for the players on the field, five minutes was enough for them to get familiar with each other. After all, although these two teams had only played against each other twice, the impression was unforgettable.

Napoli's way to deal with Barcelona was very simple. They spared no effort to carry out various fierce tackles throughout the entire field, in order to disrupt Barcelona's smooth passing and cutting cooperation. At the same time, they implemented tight marking defense against several of Barcelona's core players, cutting off the connection between them.

When attacking, they played their own characteristics and momentum. Yes, especially momentum is very important.

Many teams, when playing against Barcelona, had already surrendered before the kick-off. What they were thinking about was "How can I let Barcelona score fewer goals?" instead of "How can I score more goals against Barcelona!"

To give an example, Mourinho's Real Madrid can stick to their fast-paced attacking football ideas when playing other teams, but when dealing with Barcelona, they always become something like "three defensive midfielders" and "the whole team shrinks defense to contain Barcelona's attack," etc... The team's tactics in the game are like they are set up to target Messi. Everyone regards Messi as a treasure and keeps a close eye on him. All tactical details are aimed at containing Messi as the highest goal. As for how to score goals? Hey, that depends on luck. If we are lucky, maybe Cristiano Ronaldo will score one...

This strategy ran through all the matches between Mourinho's Real Madrid and Barcelona. They had a total of six encounters this season, and Real Madrid only won once.

But often, no matter how much you defend, you will still lose to Barcelona. Even if his defensive strategy does work, there is still a referee in the football game. If your defense is too fierce, you will always get a card. Players like Pepe, who are specifically responsible for defending Messi, are even more likely to get a card. A yellow card is enough to make him afraid to act rashly, not to mention that he often gets hotheaded and actively applies for a red card and is sent off... The first leg of Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final against Barcelona this season is a typical example—when Pepe was on the field, his defense against Messi was successful, and Barcelona was unable to open up the situation for a long time.

But when Pepe was sent off for stepping on Alves, Messi immediately resurrected with full health and status, scoring two goals against Real Madrid. Among them, the goal of passing five players and cutting six generals vividly showed the Real Madrid players' mentality of "wanting to defend but being afraid of fouls."

Napoli will not adopt such a strategy, because after the games against Lyon and Barcelona, they know very well that in the Champions League, never bet on the referee. The rumors of a "daddy" may not be credible, but they are definitely not the team that Platini likes.

Napoli's strategy is to focus on ourselves and play our style—what is Napoli's strongest point? Offense!

Then attack!

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"Hamsik is taking the ball, he is trying to pass the football to Chen Yingxiong in front..."

Chen Yingxiong did not stop the ball, he directly distributed the incoming football out.

Arshavin received the football.

At this moment, Sanchez had already cut forward from behind him. The Russian did not hesitate at all and directly sent the football over.

Then Sanchez directly kicked the ball across without stopping—because of Chen Yingxiong, the ability of wingers to cross in various situations is an important subject in the team's training. All wingers must practice to strive to be able to send accurate crosses even when they are closely defended or forced to a dead end, allowing Chen Yingxiong to head the ball in the middle.

"Sanchez crosses—"

Yingxiong jumped up in the penalty area.

Piqué jumped up with him, and Mascherano could only watch from below due to the huge difference in height.

Competing with Piqué for a header, Chen Yingxiong had no pressure.

Because from the moment he took off, Piqué had already been firmly pinned behind him...

He got the point!

Header!

Off course!

Valdes in the air did not touch the football. When his eyes followed and found that the football did not fly into the goal, he breathed a sigh of relief...

Damn it! That person's header is still so good!

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Seeing Chen Yingxiong's header, Guardiola's eyebrows twitched.

This doesn't seem like a good sign...

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