I changed football.

After finishing his long phone call, Li Yuan returned to his hotel room.

"I thought you were asleep!"

When I opened the door, I saw Mbappe lying on the bed playing on his phone.

"Ugh, I was so sleepy during the meeting, but once I got back to my room and lay down on the bed, I wasn't sleepy anymore."

"Going on Instagram again?"

"Yeah, I met another girl. What do you think? Pretty, right?"

As he spoke, Mbappe turned his phone screen around for Li Yuan to see.

The screen showed a beautiful woman with tanned skin wearing a bikini.

Well, Li Yuan isn't very good at describing a woman's appearance. This woman looks a bit like someone from a very famous socialite family in Europe and America. Li Yuan had seen a documentary about this family in his previous life, but he couldn't remember their names at all.

Especially this woman's buttocks, they're so perky, almost unnaturally so, that Li Yuan can't accept them.

However, Mbappe clearly likes this.

"Look at her butt, how perky it is!"

"You're very good-looking—but didn't you have a girlfriend before?"

"Oh, we haven't been in touch for a long time. We've found someone else now."

"What happened after that?"

"If we've made contact, let's get back together." Mbappe then made a thrusting motion with his lower body, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Seeing Li Yuan's expression, Mbappe laughed and said, "We're nothing compared to those American sports stars. Our European sports stars are playing pretty casually."

"Don't compare yourself to the bad ones."

"Oh, it's good to have fun before marriage. After marriage, you should settle down and be serious about your family. That's what a real man does. Otherwise, if you didn't have enough fun before marriage and want to have more fun after marriage, isn't that betraying your family?"

"Okay, your mentality is really—"

"Besides, our athletes have hormones that are different from ordinary people. Tell me yourself, do you think you, as a woman, are enough?"

"I've had enough, don't talk to me."

"How can that be enough? We've already had this type, what about that type? Don't you want to try it?"

"I think Veronica is great."

"Let's talk about it when you're done playing with it."

"Hey—that seems a bit disrespectful to women."

"Who can hear me?"

"No one can hear it, but someone can see it—"

"What are you talking about? Never mind, go to sleep, you have to get up at 1 p.m. for lunch."

Then Mbappe quickly fell asleep.

Li Yuan lay in bed, took a few deep breaths, did some stretching exercises, and then fell asleep.

……

At 1 o'clock, Li Yuan and Mbappe were woken up by their alarm clocks.

I quickly washed my face and went to the restaurant.

You can't eat too much staple food for lunch on match day; carbon monoxide poisoning is no joke.

Eat more protein and foods that are slow to digest.

After eating, you need to keep drinking energy drinks to replenish your energy until 4 o'clock.

Italy is still quite cold in early February, so be careful to avoid losing heat.

The team didn't depart for the San Paolo Stadium in Naples until 4 p.m.

It was almost 5 o'clock when we arrived.

We couldn't drive very fast the whole way.

Speed ​​limits are everywhere.

The match was scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., but the Monaco players didn't arrive until two hours before the game.

After changing clothes in the locker room, we went on the court at 5:15 to warm up.

After warming up for half an hour, I returned at 5:45 and did some stretching exercises while waiting in the locker room.

At 6 o'clock, Yardin began his final speech.

"The first leg is very important. We absolutely cannot concede the first goal. They don't seem to value this match as much as we do, so we're confident we can win this one!"

At 6:25, all the players stood up and formed a circle.

Subasic wore the captain's armband in this match and was the first to speak.

"Guys, today is the day we achieve our dreams! With everyone united, we can defeat any opponent! Alright, let's go!"

They then lined up in the players' tunnel.

The war is about to start.

At this time in the country, this match was also receiving a great deal of attention.

Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu also provided joint commentary for this highly anticipated match.

"Napoli, the home team, is playing a 4-3-3 formation in this match. The goalkeeper is Reina, and the defense, from left to right, consists of Gourang, Koulibaly, Albiol, and Hysé. The sweeper midfielder is Allan, and the two central midfielders are Jorginho and Hamsik. In the three forwards, the left winger is Insigne, the right winger is Callejon, and the center forward is Higuaín."

"Monaco's starting formation for this match is 4-2-3-1, with captain Subasic in goal. The defense, from left to right, consists of Neuma, Carvalho, Wallace, and Bakayoko. The two holding midfielders are Moutinho and Fabinho, the attacking midfielder is Bernardo Silva, the left winger is Mbappe, the center forward is Traore, and the right winger is Li Yuan."

"It's worth mentioning that Bakayoko will switch to full-back after this match, while Fabinho, who previously played full-back, will move to defensive midfield."

"In fact, Fabinho has been playing more as a defensive midfielder since the beginning of this season."

"The match is about to begin—"

With the referee's whistle, the match officially began.

Although the pre-match formation diagram showed Allan as a defensive midfielder, during the match, Jorginho was positioned behind him, while Hamsik and Allan stood in front, one on the left and one on the right.

Hamsik was the one who pushed forward to participate in the attack, while Allan was responsible for sweeping up and counter-pressing.

Jorginho positioned himself in front of the two center-backs, quite deep, and dominated Napoli's passing rhythm.

Napoli kicked off the first half.

Jardim explained Napoli's tactics very clearly to the entire Monaco team at the meeting.

It's about ball control and penetration combined with a combination of wing play and central play.

Napoli has a very sophisticated system for passing the ball out from their own half.

Both center-backs are capable of passing the ball.

Center-backs Koulibaly and Albiol will spread out, with Jorginho dropping back and forth to receive the passes slightly forward between them, thus forming a small triangular short passing network.

The full-backs pushing forward can also create another passing triangle.

Any three players in the backfield can form a small passing triangle.

Reina can also participate as an additional playmaker.

This is how they pass the ball out from their own half.

As for the attacking mode in the frontcourt, it is actually very simple.

It's a pattern where the winger cuts inside and the full-back overlaps.

However, the strength of the two wingers lies not in shooting after cutting inside, but in combining with the players in the middle after cutting inside.

Often, after the two wingers cut inside, Hamsik will quickly move forward to the side of the center forward. At this time, two or three attacking players will appear in a certain area to put pressure on the defenders. If the final shot is taken at this time, the probability of scoring will be much higher.

This is the offensive pattern.

In terms of overall playing style, Napoli plays a relatively aggressive high-pressing style.

When defending, the two wingers will also drop back to defend, and the formation will change from 433 to 451, leaving only Higuain to be at the front.

In the 5th minute of the game, Napoli launched a combination play between the wings and the center.

When the right-wing full-back, Hise, crossed the ball from the byline, it wasn't the center forward Higuain who headed it in the middle, but Hamsik, who had made a run into the box, who headed it, though the header went slightly wide.

Goal kick.

However, this defensive play greatly displeased Subasic, who yelled at the back line: "Mark your men! Keep an eye on those making runs from the back! They're the biggest threat!"

Napoli created threats early on, and then it was Monaco's turn to attack.