Sarri was sitting in his usual spot iands, where he had the best view of the game, surrounded by Napoli fans.

  As a guest coach studying with the team, he wasn't part of the senior coag staff, and there weren't enough seats ieical area for everyone. But this didn't bother him. From the stands, he could watch the game with a clear perspective.

  Since arriving in Naples nearly six months ago, Sarri had experienothing short of amazement.

  In such a short time, Napoli had mao suppress a top team like Chelsea in the Champions League knockout stage.

  Premier League teams are renowned for their fast-paced offense and defeheir physicality, and their relentless attag style. But against Napoli, Chelsea found themselves outpaced, outmaneuvered, and teically outcssed. Even their renowned footwork was undone by Napoli's superior trol.

  Hiddink's tactical preparation was not g. On the trary, his use of Essien and the small diamond 4-4-2 formation aimed tthen Chelsea's midfield movement and suppress Napoli's midfield domihe pn was to disrupt Napoli's py with high pressing in midfield and the attag third.

  Normally, against such pressure, most teams would resort to long balls.

  Why?

  Because attempting to pass out from the back against sutense pressing carries immense risks. Losing possession in those areas could lead to devastating terattacks.

  Hiddink clearly ted on f Napoli into hurried long balls, using Drogba, Anelka, and even Balck to apply pressure high up the pitch. At one point, they even forced Handanovito an awkward situation, nearly causing a mistake.

  But Napoli refused to panic. They didn't resort to aimless long balls.

  Instead, they stuck to their passing game, threading short, accurate passes to work their way out of pressure.

  Even Sarri, watg from the stands, was occasionally startled by the risks Napoli took in their passing sequences, but the pyers never wavered.

  A year ago, Sarri would have called such tactics reckless. But after spending months with Napoli, he realized this wasn't recklessness, it was fidence.

  Gao Shen had that fidence, and he instilled it in his team.

  Every day in training, Napoli drilled their passing and movemelessly. Every pyer, no matter their position, rofit with the ball. Even someone like avaro, who used to ck finesse, had developed into a petent passer after three years in this system.

  pared to Napoli, Chelsea struggled with the weaknesses on to Premier League teams when forced into high-speed py: frequent passing errors.

  This was hardly surprising.

  As anyone familiar with basketball could tell you, the faster the ball moves, the harder it bees to trol. Increased speed amplifies force, reduces precision, and raises the likelihood of mistakes.

  There's a famous saying in coag circles: Arsène Wenger's primary focus in training is distance.

  Wenger's philosophy was to ehat every pyer had at least two or three passing options within a 10-meter radius.

  This strategy ensured Arsenal's short-passing game was highly effective in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

  But this style came with a cost. To maintain those close passing distances, pyers o run stantly, which signifitly increased physical exertion. Arsenal's frequent colpses ier half of seasons were likely a byproduct of this demanding system.

  Hiddink tried to implement a simir style with Chelsea. But his squad's age and teical limitations made it impractical, resulting in frequent passing errors during the game's fast tempo.

  And when passing errors pile up, the sequences are dire.

  Chelsea either lost the ball and were immediately terattacked by Napoli, or they scrambled tain possession, expending energy and breaking their rhythm.

  To make matters worse, many of Chelsea's passing errors weren't even caused by Napoli's pressing—they were unforced.

  This only highlighted Napoli's dominance.

  Sarri couldn't help but admire Gao Shen.

  Everything Gao Shen had predicted before the game was happenily as he had envisioned.

  Gao Shen had pointed out that Napoli's strengths were their physical fitness and teical skill.

  "If Chelsea attacks us from the start, that's great. We'll attack with them, even force them to attack harder. They'll tire out before we do. We still score even if they drop to the ground exhausted," Gao Shen had said fidently before the match.

  "Chelsea is brave, but their teique isn't as refined as ours. No matter how Hiddihem up, they'll make passing errors. That's where we'll win."

  "He who trols the midfield trols the game!"

  "Drogba might be able to hold off our defenders or force us to add another midfielder, but we'll trol the midfield. Our fitness and skills will slowly wear them down."

  "I just 't see how we lose this game, no matter the tactics. This is a shoerformance for our 55,000 fans!"

  Sarri had listeo Gao Shen's pre-match spee the locker room. At the time, he had been struck by the young coach's fidend presence.

  Now, watg the matfold, his admiration only deepened.

  Gao Shen had identified every critical aspect of the game.

  How could Napoli lose a game like this?

  …

  After ten minutes of py, Napoli had scored twice, leaving Hiddink looking increasingly uneasy.

  Should Chelsea keep pushing forward?

  If they ti this pace, it was doubtful they would have the stamina to st until the sed half.

  Napoli, oher hand, could maintain this iy for at least 70 to 80 minutes. Did Chelsea really want to gamble ora time?

  But retreating wasn't an optioher. Napoli would only accelerate the tempo, giving Chelsea no ce to catch their breath.

  Napoli's pressing was relentless. As soon as Chelsea lost the ball, Napoli terattacked with speed. If the ter didn't work, they patiently recycled possession, f Chelsea to chase shadows.

  Even though Chelsea's fitness and energy levels were clearly better than in the first leg, this was Napoli's home turf.

  Sarri goward the teical areas.

  Hiddink stood at the edge of the visiting team's box, shouting instrus with visible frustration.

  In trast, Gao Shen sat calmly in the home team's teical area, the game with posure.

  Betweewo, whie looked more like a world-css coach?

  …

  As Sarri pohis, Chelsea mao create an opportunity och.

  After building their attack, they advahe ball to the edge of Napoli's penalty area.

  Lampard passed to Belletti on the right, who tried to deliver a cross into the box, aiming fba. But David Luiz read the py, rising first to head the ball clear.

  Mikel attempted to recover possession but, pressured by i, could only pass backward to Alex.

  Alex advanced slightly and passed to Essien. The Ghanaian trolled the ball and looked for Anelka with a forass.

  But the passing ne was too obvious. Rakititercepted the ball mid-flight, defleg it high into the air.

  Lichtsteiepped in, heading the ball down to Thiago Motta, who had positioned himself in space.

  With his back to the attack, Motta chested the ball doyed a quick pass to Biglia, who shifted it left tas.

  Vargas broke forward quickly, crossing the halfway line, but Chelsea reacted well and regrouped defensively, f Napoli's attack to stall.

  Vargas and Sanchez found themselves trapped on the left, but i dropped deep to provide support, recyg the ball back to Napoli's defensive line.

  Chelsea began pressing higher again, but Napoli's pyers remained patient, stringing together short, precise passes to move the ball gradually into Chelsea's half.

  Despite Chelsea's pressure, Napoli trolled possession, f the Blues to chase without success.

  "This is Napoli's strength," the entator noted.

  "Their passing and movement are so fluid that Chelsea's pyers 't react fast enough."

  "Look at this sequence, Chelsea hasn't touched the ball for nearly two minutes!"

  After cirg the ball to the right, Napoli found an opening.

  Di Maria received the ball on the wing, cut inside, and pyed a quick pass to Sa the edge of the box.

  Marked by Belletti, Sanchez spu and passed tas, who had sprinted forward on the overp.

  Unmarked, Vargas drove into the box and delivered a low cross.

  The ball bypassed i, who was tightly marked, and found Di Maria, pletely unmarked at the back post.

  Vargas' pass erfectly timed. Di Maria chested the ball down and, with his left foot, unleashed a powerful volley into the tht er of Chelsea's .

  3-1!