Chen Yingxiong's condition was so outstanding, with continuous goals, that the Russian media had gone from cheering in unison to feeling terrified…

This was truly an interesting shift. Who would complain about too many goals? Who wouldn't like a player scoring goals? Something that had never happened before was now happening.

The first voices of this kind came from the Moscow media—"…Chen Yingxiong has scored fourteen goals in seven league games, an average of two goals per game. He has scored eight goals in the UEFA Cup, and six of these eight goals were scored this year… His form has come suddenly, rapidly, and… strangely. Fourteen goals in seven league games, six goals in seven UEFA Cup games, a total of twenty goals in fourteen games! Such terrifying goal numbers and efficiency are rare… It's not unbelievable for a player to suddenly explode with surprising form in a short period of time. It's even normal to score a hat-trick in two consecutive games. But Chen Yingxiong's form has been sustained, which I find very strange. Generally speaking, few players can maintain this kind of crazy form for a month… But how long has Chen Yingxiong maintained it? From the match against Villarreal in February to the end of April now, he has maintained it for two and a half months!"

This article didn't explicitly say anything, but it raised surprise and suspicion about Chen Yingxiong's ability to maintain such good form for so long.

But it was like a fuse, igniting more voices of doubt. It was as if everyone had felt something was strange at first, but didn't dare to say anything without evidence. Now that someone had finally spoken out, everyone jumped out and said, "Exactly, that's what I think too!" "So I'm not the only one who suspects this!" "Your thoughts are exactly the same as mine!"

More and more articles and programs questioning Chen Yingxiong's strange form were released, all from Moscow, of course.

In Russia, the rivalry between Moscow and St. Petersburg is eternal.

The initial doubts quickly turned into definitive accusations.

"…I urge the Russian Anti-Doping Agency to thoroughly investigate Chen Yingxiong's urine sample!"

"…With such a crazy streak of goals, I refuse to believe he hasn't taken drugs…"

"This is completely illogical, there is definitely something wrong! A Chinese player, no matter how good, can't possibly do this…"

"…We should be seriously concerned about this matter, follow the reports, and be sure to find out the truth!"

"In fact, I began to suspect at the end of last season whether Chen Yingxiong used some unconventional means to help himself maintain good form, in order to catch up with Pavlyuchenko, and surpass Veredennikov's record…"

…

Such accusations became more and more numerous, and all kinds of reports became more and more unreliable.

Some tabloids even vividly described scenes of Chen Yingxiong and Denisov taking drugs in nightclubs…

※※※

Chen Yingxiong knew about this from the beginning. But he only treated it as gossip—laughing it off, not taking it to heart. It wasn't the first time the Moscow media had made things up about him.

But later he realized that something was wrong. There were more and more suspicions about his excellent condition in the media, and they were becoming more and more irresponsible, spouting nonsense. All the arguments were "I think," "I feel," "In my experience," "Generally speaking," "Basically"… Words with such strong personal subjective coloring.

Then he received a call from Dekura.

"Do you know about the recent news, Hero?"

"You mean the nonsense?"

"Yes. The Moscow media suspects you of taking banned drugs."

"Bullshit!" Chen Yingxiong cursed. He could not accept such a blatant insult to his character. Especially since those reporters were so sure of themselves, but couldn't produce a single piece of evidence, and kept saying "I think," "I feel it should be"… such unreasonable words.

"Of course you and I know that's all bullshit, but some people don't, and there are quite a few of them. There are more and more of these voices, and I think you should pay attention."

Chen Yingxiong shrugged: "How am I supposed to pay attention? My head is full of Bayern Munich right now, I don't have time to deal with those self-righteous media!"

"Leave it to Vera," Dekura said.

Chen Yingxiong was stunned for a moment. It seemed like that name hadn't appeared in his life for a while. He had almost forgotten that he had a news spokesperson who was as cold as an iceberg.

"Now the media is questioning you, suspecting you. It's the perfect time for her to come forward."

"Oh… okay. Leave it to her."

"So do you have anything to say to her?"

As Dekura spoke, he motioned to Vera Nikolaevna Ivanova, who was sitting at the desk diagonally across from him, to come and listen to the phone.

"Actually, there's nothing…" Chen Yingxiong didn't want to cause trouble, but at this moment he heard Vera's voice: "Hello, Mr. Chen."

The cold voice suddenly aroused a little anger in Chen Yingxiong.

"I'm your boss, not your client!"

"Hello, boss." Vera changed her address in a calm tone.

Faced with this impeccable attitude of "admitting her mistake," Chen Yingxiong had no temper, and he softened his tone: "You know about this, right?"

"Yes, I have been collecting all the reports about you, boss," Vera replied.

"Help me deal with them."

"Any requirements?"

"Whatever, you can ask them to provide evidence, or prove my innocence, or you can just have a big fight with the media!" Vera asked him if he had any requirements, but Chen Yingxiong felt that it didn't need to be that complicated at all.

"Okay, I understand." Vera nodded in agreement. "Anything else, boss?"

Chen Yingxiong's mind was full of Bayern Munich now, full of "scared of them my ass", so at this time he didn't habitually flirt with Vera.

"Nothing else, that's it."

When Vera handed the phone back to Dekura, Chen Yingxiong had already hung up.

"What did he say to you?" Dekura asked Vera.

Vera repeated what Chen Yingxiong had said. Then she said her own choice: "We just need to ask the media who said this to produce evidence, and if they can't, we'll sue them for defamation."

Dekura laughed: "That last one is really his style. But do it your own way."

※※※

After Chen Yingxiong handed everything over to Vera, he didn't bother with it, and he re-entered the instance and continued his special training.

He had already told Sharapova that this week was crucial, and whether he could enter the final depended on this week. So this week he would be doing extra training at the training base and would be busy. If there was anything, contact him by email.

In fact, he was not at the training base at all, he was doing special training in his own bedroom…

※※※

While Chen Yingxiong was sweating profusely in the instance, Bayern Munich collectively arrived in St. Petersburg.

At this time, there were only two days left before the start of the game.

St. Petersburg in early May was very cool, without the heavy snow that had tormented the Yellow Submarine. Both the weather conditions and the field conditions were very good.

The weather forecast department said that the night of the match would be clear and breezy, perfect weather for a football match.

Objective conditions were all prepared for this match. At least Bayern Munich were much luckier than Villarreal, they didn't have to struggle on a muddy and slippery field in the face of blizzards.

If Bayern Munich were really unfortunately eliminated, they could not use the weather and the field as an excuse.

So for Bayern Munich, this was actually a do-or-die game, a game they couldn't afford to lose.

For Bayern Munich, the past week had been full of good news—Luca Toni had finished his suspension and was available to play for the team. Klose had also recovered from his injury, and he would partner with Toni in the front line. Goalkeeper Kahn, who was injured in the first leg, had also recovered in time, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to make it to the second leg against Zenit.

On the other hand, what about Zenit St. Petersburg?

Kerzhakov's injury had not yet recovered, and Arshavin and Rixen were automatically suspended for one game due to accumulated yellow cards. Now Chen Yingxiong had been pushed to the forefront by the Moscow media, suspected of taking banned drugs, and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency was asked to closely monitor Chen Yingxiong, and some media even planned to bring this matter to the European Anti-Doping Committee…

This made Advocaat very annoyed.

In the past two days, many media reporters had flocked to him, wanting to know if Chen Yingxiong's crazy form was really related to banned drugs…

This would, of course, greatly interfere with and affect Zenit's normal preparations.

At such a crucial time, Advocaat and the whole team had to spare energy to deal with those dark-hearted reporters who were afraid that the world would not be in chaos.

With the Champions League and the UEFA Cup at this stage, Zenit St. Petersburg was the only representative of Russian football left, and all the Moscow teams had been eliminated.

Shouldn't everyone be working together to cheer for Zenit at this time? Why make such a scene?

He turned his attention to the upcoming league schedule. After the UEFA Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich, two days later, the team would go to the away game to challenge CSKA Moscow. CSKA Moscow ranked seventh, and Zenit St. Petersburg ranked first in the league. The two sides were worlds apart, and should not be direct competitors in principle. But who made Chen Yingxiong in the Zenit team?

Chen Yingxiong's feud with CSKA Moscow could be told for three days and three nights, so this game was highly anticipated.

Was it for this reason?

Advocaat thought with a frown.

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ps, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets~~~ all are needed!

If you dare to vote, I dare to ask for them!