Heroes of the Restricted Zone

Chapter 394 Group No. [-] or No. [-]? (Second update on guarantee)
After the national team match day, the league officially begins.

Affected by the FIFA virus, Naples was tied 0:0 by Lazio at home.

They have the same 21 points as Fiorentina, but because the goal difference is one less than Fiorentina, their ranking has dropped to seventh.

However, there is only a four-point gap between the seventh in the league and the third in the league. The gap has not widened, and there is still a fight.Inter Milan has established their lead from the very beginning. After thirteen rounds of the league, they have accumulated 32 points, topping the list, pulling away the second-ranked Juventus by a full five points.

Inter Milan coached by Mourinho seems to be unstoppable in Italy...

When Naples defeated Inter Milan in an away game, the Italian media thought that Mazzarri's team could wrestle with Mourinho. Who would have thought that Naples' performance in other games was not stable enough, and their results fluctuated, and they were finally defeated by Inter Milan. Farther and farther away.

Mazari is currently not focused on the domestic league at all.It is impossible for him to win the league championship. His goal in the domestic league this season is to get the top four in the league and qualify for the Champions League.Winning the championship has to be considered in the long term...

His focus this season is in the Champions League.

On November 24, Naples ushered in Liverpool at home.

Liverpool, which has always been proud of Anfield, saw another terrifying home atmosphere here. Finally, after nine and 10 minutes of fierce fighting, Naples defeated Liverpool 1-0 at home.

Chen Yingxiong stopped his footsteps of scoring a goal in every Champions League game, which made many people breathe a sigh of relief-it would be too scary to go on like this!

Although he didn't score a goal, his powerful blast helped Cassano get a chance to make a supplementary shot and scored a key goal.

After the game, Chen Yingxiong hosted a treat to comfort the injured Skrtel—the Slovak was not really injured.

Liverpool qualified for the Champions League this season. Martin Skrtel originally planned to make a big splash in the Champions League. Who would have thought that Liverpool's performance in the Champions League this season would be so bad. It would be a shame to say it...

It is said that Liverpool executives are already considering a coaching change...

It is not yet known whether the team will be able to participate in the Champions League next season.Thinking of these questions, Skrtel felt particularly bored.

When he joined Liverpool, he thought he was joining a giant with a glorious tradition, but he didn't expect to be cheated until he came.

From top to bottom, this team is no longer the Red Army Liverpool 20 years ago.

Chen Yingxiong knows the boredom in Skrtel's heart, so today everyone doesn't talk about football or the Champions League.Just play with him and relax.

In the end, when Skrtel was about to return to the hotel, he patted Chen Yingxiong on the shoulder and said: "I think your group will be [-]% successful. It depends on whether you can appear as the number one in the group. This is very important. So in the last round, the match against Lyon is an opportunity, even if it is an away game, try to win them! The Champions League knockout round and the group stage are completely two levels, and it can even be said that it is not a kind of competition at all..."

Chen Yingxiong gave him a thumbs up: "Don't worry, Martin. Even if we meet Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​we are not afraid!"

Skrtel gave him a punch: "You are not so lucky. There are only two top teams in La Liga, and you have met them! Go away! Anyway, I wish you good luck! Come if you are eliminated Liverpool is looking for me, brother comforts you!"

Skrtel left like this, and he still has to fight for the UEFA Cup this season.

In this round of the group stage, Naples defeated Liverpool at home.And what about Lyon?They encountered the same problem as Naples in the away game-lost to Zenit St. Petersburg 0:2 in the snow.

Those two games led to yet another change in the group's standings, with Lyon losing to Zenit St Petersburg and Napoli beating Liverpool.Lyon, which originally had nine points, remained unchanged, while Naples relied on beating Liverpool to score three points, increasing the points to ten, surpassing Lyon by one point, and regaining the top spot in the group!

If things go on like this, Naples is really hopeful that it will appear as the number one in the group...

And Zenit St. Petersburg relied on their strong home court advantage to get seven points-all seven points were scored at their home court, two games victorious, and a draw with Liverpool.Now, the qualifying situation, which had no suspense, suddenly became suspenseful.

In the last round, if Naples can beat Lyon, then they can be sure to qualify as the first in the group, and if Zenit St. Petersburg beat Liverpool in the examination room, they can surpass Lyon in points and be second in the group qualify.In this way, Lyon, who was in a good situation, had to play the UEFA Cup sadly.

Of course, this is the best result.

In fact, it is certainly impossible to go so smoothly, but no matter what the result is, Naples' qualification for the group is already a certainty.They have already qualified ahead of schedule!

After the game against Liverpool, many Naples fans refused to leave. They gathered around the San Paolo Stadium, singing and cheering loudly, celebrating Naples' promotion to the second stage of the Champions League.Because Naples and Lyon played the two games at the same time, after the Naples game, they also knew the news from St. Petersburg that Lyon lost!This means that Naples surpassed Lyon again and was promoted to the first place in the group, and because of the points, they also advanced one round ahead of schedule!
Before participating in the Champions League, even the most optimistic and arrogant Naples fans, how many people thought about it now?They have thought about qualifying for the group stage, but they may not have thought about qualifying for the group stage ahead of time...

The next day, the Naples media announced this exciting news on a large page.

"This is an unprecedented feat since the establishment of the Naples team! We have advanced to the second stage of the Champions League! This has never been done in the Maradona era!" Even if some media said such things at this time, No one cares anymore...

The fact is that even if Maradona was there, Naples would not be able to reach the second stage of the Champions League.

De Laurentiis also issued a statement the next day, praising the performance of the Napoli team and thanking Mazzarri for his work and the players.

"...for me this is the best Christmas present and New Year's gift. Now I'm going to enjoy the joy and joy until the draw. The lads did a great job and on behalf of the Napoli fans Thanks to them, I hope they have a very happy Christmas holiday..."

※ ※ ※

Qualifying from the Champions League group in advance is something to be happy about, but it is not worth being happy forever. In fact, just qualifying from the group is not enough.

The team's outstanding performance in the group stage gave Mazari confidence.He began to plan longer-term goals-why can't we go further in the Champions League knockout rounds?
In order to go further in the knockout round, you need to meet a good opponent in the quarter-finals, which depends on the lottery... and one of the most important factors that determine the result of the lottery is the team's ranking in the group stage .

One of the rules of the UEFA Champions League knockout draw is that the No. 1 of each group cannot meet, so the match in the top [-] can only be a contest between the first in the group and the second in the group.

Since it is the second place in the group, how much can it show that this team is weak, otherwise why didn't it take the first place in the group?
The first in the group is strong, and the strong meets the weak... so the chances of winning are high soon?

Otherwise, why do those giants still pursue the first place in the group?
Since we want to pursue the first place in the group, the last game of the group stage is very important-if you think it doesn't matter whether you are first or second in the group, as long as you can qualify, then Naples can play soy sauce in the last game against Lyon up.

At that time, the main players can rest, or even not go to the away game, to recharge their batteries and prepare for the domestic league.In the league, their ranking has dropped to No.7.

But now that they are going to compete for the first place in the group, they must go all out to win the last group match. It is difficult to win the away game, but it is not hopeless.Besides... Even if they didn't win in the end, a draw would still be the first place in the Naples group.Therefore, Mazari obviously has more tactical maneuvering room than Puel, and he has more options for him to choose from.

※ ※ ※

Soon, everyone in the team knew that their goal in the Champions League group stage was to qualify first.

This is the second day of resuming training, what Mazari said to everyone before training.

Team first?This is naturally what the players hope for.

At first they didn't have this idea, they thought it would be great to qualify from the group.However, human beings are always greedy. If they can qualify first in the group, who would want to qualify second in the group?Now that they have returned to the first position in the group, there is naturally no need to accept the result of qualifying second in the group.

Since they want to focus on the Champions League, the domestic league will naturally have to be temporarily abandoned, at least before the final round of the game against Lyon.To avoid the main players from consuming too much energy and causing their physical fitness to fail to keep up, the most important thing is to avoid getting injured when qualifying.

As time goes by, the schedule is gradually approaching Christmas. At this time, the weather turns cold, and the physical fitness of the players begins to fail to keep up. Naturally, this is the time when the players are most likely to be injured.This time period must be strictly controlled to prevent players from being injured.

For this reason, in the No.14 round of the league, when Naples challenged Parma in an away game, Mazzarri started the rotation again, and it was not a rotation of small repairs, but a big rotation that almost replaced the entire starting lineup.

Such a large rotation, of course, they tied Parma 1:1 in the away game.

In the post-match press conference, Mazari explained the purpose of his rotation because he aimed at the Champions League.

"Many people say that we have completed the task by qualifying from the Champions League group stage, but in fact it is not the case. Because we have not retained the first position in the group. Yes, we will go from this group as the first in the group. Get out!"

A word shocked all four.

Those reporters did not expect Naples' ambitions to be so great!

(End of this chapter)