Chapter 1 When the Going Gets Tough

While the two teams' players waited in the tunnel to come out, the stadium DJ was announcing the starting lineups. Every time he announced a Napoli player's name, deafening cheers echoed through the Stadio San Paolo. When it came to Dortmund players, equally deafening boos rang out.

"Is this our first time playing against them?" Reus frowned at the sound of the jeers. If the stadium wasn't so different from the Veltins-Arena, he would have thought he was playing in the Revierderby.

The boos in the Revierderby might not have been so ear-splitting...

"Yeah, why does it feel like we have some old grudge with them?" Mark hunched his shoulders, the scenes from their arrival at Naples airport flashing through his mind like a movie.

"Hey, it's normal. We're their enemy now, on the opposite side, so it's normal for them to act like this," Zhou Yi reassured his teammates. He didn't want them to be intimidated by the opposing fans before the game even started.

"But we've been to so many away games, and none were like Naples..." Mark disagreed.

"Naples is different from those places," Zhou Yi said. "The local customs are... robust..." He didn't say "Mafia paradise" directly, afraid of giving his teammates even worse psychological suggestions.

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After the match began, Napoli, with the advantage of playing at home, launched the first attack.

Within five minutes, Dortmund was completely suppressed by Napoli. Judging from the scene, it was hard to believe that this was the performance of the defending champion.

Supported by their fans, the Napoli team launched wave after wave of attacks on Dortmund's goal.

But the most terrifying thing was not Napoli's offense, but when possession fell to Dortmund.

Napoli began pressing from the attacking third. Their players were like mad dogs, completely unaware of "fatigue." Even if Dortmund's defenders had the ball, one or two Napoli players would rush up to press them.

Especially Zhou Yi, who was the focus of Napoli's attention. As soon as he got the ball, at least two players would try to steal it from him, sometimes three or four.

This made it almost impossible for Zhou Yi to organize an effective attack – all his energy was spent on getting rid of the opponent's entanglement and protecting the ball. How could he possibly organize an attack?

Moreover, there were several Napoli players between him and the attacking players in the front, even if he passed the ball forward, it would be difficult to penetrate Napoli's layers of defense.

Zhou Yi had naturally experienced this in virtual matches. But even if he knew what Napoli would do, he couldn't come up with a better solution – if he went forward, closer to Mark and Reus, the connection between him and the backcourt would be cut off. Then his teammates could only kick the ball forward, but that would be too inaccurate and wasteful.

If he didn't go forward and stayed in the backcourt to organize the attack, everyone had just seen the problems he faced.

"...Napoli has adopted a high-pressing tactic from the start of this game, surrounding and pressing every Dortmund player who gets the ball... I have to say, their tactic is quite effective..." He Ping said.

High pressing is certainly a very effective tactic. This was not invented by Napoli coach Benítez, but the question is how many teams can execute the high-pressing tactic to the extreme in a match?

Like Barcelona, everyone knows that to deal with Barcelona's possession-based style, as long as you can implement high pressing well, you can contain them. But Barcelona still dominated European football for many years. In those years, who consistently defeated Barcelona with high pressing? Not many, because high pressing requires a lot from the team, and not all teams are capable of doing it.

Now, Benítez's Napoli seems determined to execute "high pressing" perfectly.

Every player ran tirelessly, covering almost the entire field. No matter which corner of the field, as long as there was a Dortmund player, there was bound to be a Napoli player.

Zhou Yi's position on the field was attacking midfielder, but as the game went on, he became a defensive midfielder, because it was difficult to receive the ball in front - his teammates gave him long passes, but his physical confrontation ability was not an advantage. It was difficult to gain an advantage and fight for the ball under the double-teaming of the opponent...

After becoming a defensive midfielder, Zhou Yi was able to help the team stabilize the situation in the backcourt, but it was difficult to send the ball forward.

Even if he wanted to use a long pass to send the ball forward, it was very difficult, because Zhou Yi, as the core of Dortmund, was subjected to Napoli's all-round tight pressing. He didn't even have the space to wind up for a long pass.

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A teammate passed the ball to Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi, with his back to the attacking direction, made a feint to turn to the left, but his right foot used the outside of his foot to push the ball to the right, while his body turned to the right, intending to get rid of the defender Inler behind him.

But he was not able to achieve his goal, because as soon as he turned around, he found that Inler was still in front of him, making it impossible for him to turn around directly. In order to avoid being intercepted, he could only carry the ball horizontally to the wing, and Inler continued to run with him, intending to further compress Zhou Yi's space.

Zhou Yi was of course clear that if he continued to carry the ball to the wing, he would only be driving himself into a dead end.

So he made a sudden stop, his left foot crossed over the ball and then swung back, using the outside of his foot to push the ball to the left, completing the turn and returning to the center.

Inler was not fooled by Zhou Yi's feint, but followed the turn and leaned up again. Of course, he had some pulling movements on his hands to prevent Zhou Yi from escaping completely, but he only pulled once and then let go. The referee would not blow the whistle for such a hand movement.

In the end, Zhou Yi had no choice but to pass the ball back – if he didn't pass the ball out, it wouldn't be just one Inler following him. He had already seen Hamsik pouncing on him. If he controlled the ball for a while longer, he would fall into the encirclement, and it would be difficult to pass accurately even to the back.

This contest between Zhou Yi and Inler in the midfield was like a microcosm of the match between Dortmund and Napoli so far.

Napoli relied on tireless running and pressing tactics, coupled with the cheers of Napoli fans throughout the stadium, to suppress Dortmund.

Ten minutes had passed, and Dortmund had only one shot, which had not yet hit the target.

Napoli, on the other hand, took advantage of their pressing in the frontcourt to get many opportunities, two of which hit the target.

If Weidenfeller hadn't made a brilliant save, Dortmund might have already conceded a goal.

"Napoli is aggressive. Although Dortmund has not conceded a goal yet, if they continue to play like this, Dortmund will concede a goal sooner or later..." Marcel Reif said worriedly.

Facing Napoli's high pressing, it was not only Zhou Yi who was uncomfortable. The other Dortmund players were also very uncomfortable. In addition, they may have been in poor condition due to the atmosphere of Napoli's home stadium. Since the start of the game, Dortmund had been suppressed by Napoli and had not achieved anything.

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The development of the match really proved Marcel Reif right – in the twenty-ninth minute, Napoli's tireless pressing in the frontcourt finally paid off. After intercepting Dortmund's attack in the midfield, they suddenly launched a quick attack.

Inler passed the ball forward to Callejon, who then passed the ball to Hamsik on the thirty-meter line.

Hamsik did not stop the ball, but directly half-turned and pushed the ball to the rib of Dortmund's penalty area.

There, Higuaín had run out of space – he was right behind Dortmund's right-back Großkreutz, who had moved forward to defend, and at the same time maintained a line with center-back Subotic, who was slightly behind, and was not offside!

Hamsik's pass accurately found him. Higuaín, who got the ball in the rib, took a step forward and then decisively shot!

The ball passed Weidenfeller's fingertips and went straight to the far corner of the goal, flying into the net!

"Higuaín!!!" The Italian commentator became excited. "He scored the first goal for Napoli. Napoli leads Dortmund 1-0 at home!"

"Oh, danger! Danger..." Marcel Reif exclaimed when he saw Higuaín receiving the ball in the rib, but before he could finish his words, Higuaín scored. He sighed: "Hamsik and Higuaín accurately found the loophole in Dortmund's defense... Dortmund seems to have been confused by Napoli's high pressing..."

"The goal is there! Higuaín scored his first Champions League goal of the season for Napoli! It is also his first Champions League goal for Napoli!" Although He Ping was very disappointed, he still had to maintain a neutral and objective attitude on the surface. "These thirty minutes have been too difficult for Dortmund... They have no effective offense, and the scene is completely suppressed by Napoli. This goal is not surprising, because they were playing very dangerously before... In the front, whether it is Mark or Reus and Kuba, they are basically invisible, and they cannot be seen at all..."

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After scoring, the Napoli players celebrated wildly, and the Napoli fans in the stands cheered and cheered for the team.

Zhou Yi stood in the middle of the field. He looked around. If he remembered correctly, these Napoli fans in the stands seemed to have never sat down from the first second of the match, and were all watching the match standing up.

Dortmund's home stadium, Westfalenstadion, has dedicated standing seats. The famous South Stand is a standing-only stand in domestic matches, and will only become a seating stand in Champions League matches.

But in his impression, even the Dortmund fans, known for their fanaticism, cannot achieve a situation where everyone stands to watch a match, except for the South Stand, fans in other stands will also sit down. But Napoli fans don't distinguish between stands, they all stand and watch the match, singing, dancing, shouting, and yelling throughout the entire process.

The Napoli players on the field don't know what fatigue is, and the Napoli fans in the stands don't know what it means to be tired...

Zhou Yi believes that the passion of these Napoli fans must have given the Napoli players infinite courage and strength, and at the same time caused great interference to his own teammates...

Whether on or off the field, Napoli is a difficult opponent.

※※※

While the television broadcast was showing the Napoli players celebrating their goal, it also gave a few shots of the Dortmund players. The Dortmund players in the shots all looked dull and dazed.

Seeing this, the Italian commentator joked: "Ha! Our defending champion is in big trouble!"

His tone was full of gloating.