Chapter 1 1:1 in the First Leg

The 1:1 score in the first leg left people with endless fantasies and possibilities.

It would be nonsense to say that Bayern Munich had been eliminated, and it wouldn't be honest to say that Zenit St. Petersburg had a good chance of winning after returning to their home stadium.

The score was very ambiguous. Bayern Munich had both opportunities and risks, and so did Zenit St. Petersburg.

It all depended on who could seize it.

But overall, Zenit St. Petersburg was more qualified to be happy with this result.

In Russia, the media's evaluation of this game was divided into two completely different factions. One was relatively optimistic, believing that not losing away from home and getting an away goal was remarkable and would help eliminate Bayern Munich in the second leg at home. The other faction was slightly pessimistic, their view being that although they didn't lose away from home and had an away goal, Bayern Munich didn't lose either. The total score was a tie, and Zenit had no chance to score away goals anymore. If Bayern Munich could score a goal at Zenit's home stadium, the situation would be reversed. Not to mention that Arshavin was automatically suspended for one game in this match. His absence had a great impact on the team's strength.

It seemed like they both had their own reasons.

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Arshavin did regret his yellow card. Actually, he regretted it as soon as he saw the referee show him the yellow card. But who told him to be so impulsive before? And he thought that he was just delaying the game in the frontcourt, and as long as his attitude was good, he shouldn't get a yellow card, right?

Who would have thought that the referee would be so merciless, not even saying a word before raising his hand and giving him a yellow card.

Arshavin was anxious at the thought of missing the most important game.

Kerzhakov was injured, and he was suspended due to a yellow card. Even if the second leg was at our home stadium, it would still be difficult. After all, the opponent was Bayern Munich! If it were any other team, he probably wouldn't be so worried.

His suspension cast a shadow over Zenit's prospects for advancement. Many people felt that the yellow card he received might be the one that determined who advanced and who was eliminated.

The atmosphere within the team wasn't very excited either. Logically speaking, after drawing with Bayern Munich away from home, shouldn't they have a good chance of advancing when they returned to their home stadium? The players should be happy, full of hope for the future, and even sharpening their knives.

But because of that yellow card, the atmosphere seemed a bit depressing.

Of course, not everyone thought so.

For example, Chen Hero didn't think so.

"Scared of them? Bullshit!" This was Chen Hero's catchphrase these past two days.

Whenever he saw his teammates sighing about the second leg, he would come over and say, "Scared of them? Bullshit!"

To be honest, after Arshavin was suspended, the team's entire hope for the second leg was pinned on this high center forward.

To eliminate Bayern Munich, they had to score goals, and the most prolific scorer in Zenit right now was of course Chen Hero.

Seeing Chen Hero so confident, Advocaat breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Now they could only count on Chen Hero. If this kid had any psychological burden, they would be finished.

Now it seemed that everything was normal.

Not having to worry about Chen Hero's mental state allowed Advocaat to relax a bit. The problem he had to consider now was how to maximize Chen Hero's scoring ability.

After losing Kerzhakov and Arshavin, Zenit's attack would inevitably be limited. At the very least, the attack on Arshavin's side wouldn't be as sharp as before.

How could they make up for the impact of Arshavin's absence?

He thought of Dominguez.

The Argentine attacking midfielder could play multiple positions, including left and right wing midfielder.

The reason he hadn't arranged for him to play before was because he didn't defend, which put a lot of pressure on the team's defense.

Now that there was no one else available, he had to use him whether he wanted to or not.

He and Schirl were positioned on the left and right.

Igor Semshov was arranged in the middle.

The defensive midfielders were of course Tymoshchuk and Denisov. After Kerzhakov was injured, Denisov had completely turned professional. He seized the opportunity to play, and fully utilized his comprehensive skills, active running, and ability to connect the dots, organically linking the front, middle, and backfields.

With him around, Tymoshchuk's task was much easier.

Denisov, who had always been considered a substitute, showed everyone another side of himself.

As his good roommate, Chen Hero was also very happy for Denisov. After all, he was already a starter, and Denisov was still a substitute, which would always feel strange and might even affect the friendship between the two.

Chen Hero was sincerely happy for Denisov.

In the defense, Advocaat arranged Krizanac and Shirokov as center backs, Anyukov as right back, and the Korean Kim Dong-jin as left back.

Malafeev was the goalkeeper.

The spearhead at the very front was naturally Chen Hero.

This was the strongest lineup that Advocaat could arrange.

This lineup was definitely not Zenit St. Petersburg's strongest lineup, so Advocaat was a little uneasy about using this lineup to deal with Bayern Munich.

They had to know that in this leg, Luca Toni, who had been automatically suspended for one game due to accumulated yellow cards, would be returning. In addition, Klose, who had been injured before, had also recovered.

Bayern Munich's attacking power would be greatly enhanced.

The pressure on Zenit's defense increased sharply. Conceding goals was almost inevitable.

Advocaat felt that instead of trying to prevent Bayern Munich from scoring, it was better to focus on their own game and take the initiative to attack. They should give full play to Zenit's strength in attack over defense, and use their powerful attack to suppress Bayern Munich.

Anyway, Advocaat could see that Chen Hero was not at a disadvantage when facing Bayern Munich's center backs. He was capable of suppressing Demichelis. In this way, there was still hope.

So this week, the tactic he formulated for the team was attack. They would launch a strong attack at home, strive to score first, take advantage of their home advantage to step up their attack, and bring the game into their familiar rhythm as early as possible.

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The team's tactics were a matter for the coach to consider. Chen Hero was also considering how to deal with Bayern Munich.

His so-called method was of course not to say "Scared of them? Bullshit!" to everyone he met. This kind of trash talk was okay for boosting morale, but it would be foolish to put all your hopes on trash talk.

In the last game, he only scored one goal, and a big part of the reason was that Lucio came to deal with him together with Demichelis later on. He was okay dealing with Demichelis alone, but he was a bit strained facing Lucio.

Although his physical qualities were very good, Lucio was not inferior to him at all...

When these two people joined forces to deal with him, he suddenly couldn't score goals.

This made him very depressed.

Lucio was not the only center back in the world. After he transferred to Napoli, there would be an endless stream of high-level defenders in the Serie A league. What was he going to do then?

Currently, his body was his greatest asset, so he had to maximize this advantage.

He had basically maxed out all of his physical talents, and he turned his attention to the last two talents that hadn't been unlocked yet - "Strong as an Ox" and "Wall for One-Two Passes."

The meanings of these two talents were obvious from the literal meaning. "Strong as an Ox" was to enhance strength, while "Wall for One-Two Passes" was to improve the technique of making the ball for teammates.

Although Chen Hero was not the kind of particularly selfish striker, who would never pass the ball unless the world was about to end, he still emphasized teamwork. He also had a lot of assists.

But after all, he was a center forward, and scoring goals was his mission. He didn't really want to unlock the talent of making the ball for teammates. He still wanted to score goals himself.

In the process of competing with Lucio, he found that Lucio was very powerful. If he wanted to compete with Lucio and Demichelis in terms of strength, he was still a bit lacking.

He had to be stronger, even though he was already strong enough now. But who would complain about having too much of this?

Modern football was a sport that emphasized physical confrontation. If your body was not good enough, you wouldn't be able to use your skills no matter how good they were. Chen Hero was eager to improve his physical fitness.

He had already leveled up once before, maxing out "My Ball Control is Like the Great Emperor."

Now that he was leveling up again, he added the talent points he gained to the "Strong as an Ox" talent. One talent point increased his strength by three percent.

After adding the talent, Chen Hero punched the wall. He felt the surging power and... the reaction force - which hurt so much that he shook his hand vigorously.

While rubbing his hand, he looked forward to the second leg. When he faced Lucio and Demichelis again with his increased strength, he wouldn't be afraid!

But first... he had to play the league game first.

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On April 27th, in the seventh round of the league, Zenit St. Petersburg faced Terek Grozny at home.

Chen Hero had already adjusted his state to "Slaughter Storm" mode, and he wouldn't stop until he achieved his goal.

Terek Grozny was destined to become another dead soul under his guns.

"Hero - beautiful! 1:0! Zenit St. Petersburg takes the lead at home! They took the lead in the sixteenth minute, which is inseparable from Chen Hero's excellent form!"

"Woo - woo -"

"The air raid alarm sounds for the second time! Another brace! Hello, Mr. Brace!"

Chen Hero hugged his teammates.

Now, not only was the media surprised by his form, but even his teammates were shocked.

"Oh my god! Fourteen goals in seven games! An average of two goals per game! How did you do it? Hero!"

"This is too crazy! Are you really not an alien?!"

In the end, relying on Chen Hero's two goals, Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Terek Grozny 3:1 at home and continued to lead the standings.

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ps, A new week is here. It's basically the last week for Striker's Ambition on the new book monthly ticket list. There's also a small tail on the 31st, so let's include it in this week...

So I implore everyone to vote for Striker's Ambition with the recommendation tickets in your hands!

It's the last month of the new book monthly ticket list. We not only want a big harvest of monthly tickets, but we also hope to show our faces on the recommendation list on the homepage.

Thank you all!