Chapter 150 Warning

When Chen Yingxiong blasted the football into Fiorentina's goal, the few Zenit fans in the stands collectively made "woo-woo-woo" sounds.

The sound, at first hearing, resembled massive boos. Even the Italian TV commentator was stunned—why were Zenit's fans booing their goal-scoring hero?

Only Sergeyevski knew what this sound was.

Since the Stadio Artemio Franchi didn't play air raid sirens over the loudspeakers, these hardcore Zenit fans were imitating the sound of air raid sirens with their own mouths!

They were paying tribute to the team's number one striker in this way! Paying tribute to the super center who was almost omnipotent and always brought everyone expectations!

"This is an air raid siren dedicated to Chen Yingxiong! It's warning Fiorentina—watch out for the skies above your heads!"

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After the game restarted, Fiorentina experienced a period of panic that didn't last long, only about five or six minutes. But Fiorentina's fans felt it was very long. Every time Zenit attacked, they worried their team would concede a goal.

Fortunately, they finally got through this agonizing period with their team.

Then it was Fiorentina's turn to counterattack.

Losing two goals at home, giving the opponent two away goals, was bad enough. Did they also have to lose the game at home?

No! Absolutely not!

Fiorentina pressed forward, trying to equalize as soon as possible. There were still thirty minutes left in the game, so they weren't without hope. They even had a chance to complete a comeback and win the game.

Zenit cooperated by playing a tight defense and then looking for opportunities to counterattack.

Anyway, they had a Chen Yingxiong up front. As long as the long passes weren't too far off, he had a good chance of getting them.

Everyone just kicked the football forward with big feet. If Chen Yingxiong could control it five out of ten times, that would be a success. Then Arshavin, Hille, Dominguez, and Kerzhakov would move forward to support, forming a local numerical advantage in a short period of time, thereby breaking through Frey's goal.

That was the tactical plan of St. Petersburg Zenit.

Simple and direct, bold and decisive, like barbarians from the cold lands. They were tall and mighty, with immense strength, but lacked skill.

However, in the face of their strong bodies, even the fanciest skills were useless...

Fiorentina's counterattack didn't help them equalize. Instead, they conceded another goal in the seventy-third minute. This time, Anyukov scored.

Arshavin crossed from the right. Chen Yingxiong and Kerzhakov successfully attracted the attention of Fiorentina's defenders in the center of the box and at the near post. Then, left-back Anyukov, who had surged forward from the back, cut into the box, controlled the ball, and volleyed it. The football flew into Frey's goal at a not-so-wide angle.

At that moment, the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which had been noisy for more than seventy minutes, fell silent...

Despair rose in the hearts of Fiorentina's fans.

1:3 at home, and the opponent had three away goals. For a two-legged cup knockout tie, everyone knew what that meant.

Even if they equalized in the end, so what? Three away goals! Even if the opponent drew 2:2 with Fiorentina at home, they would still advance!

The St. Petersburg Zenit players in front of the away team's bench were celebrating the third goal wildly, because they also knew that once this goal went in, the quarter-finals were basically decided. They would go to the semi-finals, and their opponent would likely be Bayern Munich!

"3:1! Fiorentina is done for!" Sergeyevski roared.

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After conceding the goal, Prandelli angrily threw away the water bottle in his hand, then spread his hands and said to his assistant coach, "This damn game!"

Yes, that was the famous Italian coach's summary of this game, and it was very accurate!

For his Fiorentina, this was undoubtedly a "damn game"!

In the end, Fiorentina lost to St. Petersburg Zenit 1:3 at their home stadium.

They took away a victory and also scored three away goals. After this game, the local media in Florence were filled with mourning, believing that Fiorentina basically had no hope of advancing to the semi-finals. Their best result in returning to the European arena was the UEFA Cup quarter-finals...

But fortunately, the team's momentum in the league was good, and they had a chance to qualify for next season's Champions League. This somewhat diluted the sadness of the team's loss.

The Zenit players happily returned to St. Petersburg.

At the airport, they were welcomed by local media and some fans.

Everyone was happy with the terrible fighting power they showed on the road.

When the Zenit players appeared at the exit, reporters swarmed up and grabbed their targets to start "interrogating" them.

As the team's number one striker, Chen Yingxiong was naturally the focus of attention. Besides, he was already one of the reporters' favorite players, so it was normal to be surrounded by reporters. He scored his seventh goal in this UEFA Cup match, making him a strong contender for the top scorer in this UEFA Cup. Shortly after the end of the match between Zenit and Fiorentina, Bayern Munich's Toni scored Bayern Munich's only goal in the match against Getafe, helping his team draw with Getafe at home.

He increased his goal count to eight, and Chen Yingxiong was still in second place, one goal behind him.

But as a nineteen-year-old player who was participating in the UEFA Cup for the first time, it was quite remarkable to have such a performance.

"What is the team's goal?" the reporters asked.

"I don't know!" Chen Yingxiong said truthfully. Advocaat had never said what kind of results the team should achieve in the UEFA Cup, and the players hadn't discussed this topic much privately. "Anyway, we'll go as far as we can..."

"If you successfully advance, which opponent would you prefer to face in the semi-finals? Bayern Munich or Getafe?"

The reporter who asked the question himself understood that anyone would be more inclined to choose Getafe, because Getafe was not strong enough. If St. Petersburg Zenit encountered Getafe, the hope of advancing to the final would be greatly increased. If they encountered Bayern Munich, the dark horse's journey might come to an end...

Everyone hoped that Zenit could go as far as possible, just like Chen Yingxiong said, so entering the final was the farthest, and there was no destination farther than the final.

He felt that there was no suspense in this question. Anyone with a smart head would know which one to choose. But Chen Yingxiong's answer was: "Bayern Munich!"

His answer was firm, and there was even a hint of excitement in his tone.

"Ah?" The reporter was stunned for a moment, not understanding.

"I want to see what level a Champions League team is at!" Chen Yingxiong said with a smile, looking confident. "It's more exciting to compete against such a team!"

"What if you get eliminated..."

Chen Yingxiong glared: "The game hasn't even started yet, how can you say such discouraging words?"

After saying that, he ignored the reporter who was "increasing the ambition of others and destroying his own prestige" and turned to answer other people's questions.

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For the St. Petersburg Zenit players, these two weeks were busy, because they had two games a week for two consecutive weeks, playing in the league on weekends and in the UEFA Cup in the middle of the week. After playing Fiorentina away on April 3, they returned to St. Petersburg and immediately set off for Yaroslavl to challenge the home team there, Shinnik Yaroslavl. This was a match in the fourth round of the league.

After playing Shinnik Yaroslavl, they returned to St. Petersburg again, where they waited for Fiorentina on April 10.

On April 13, they faced Soviet Wings at their home stadium.

But in fact, for the other Zenit players, this was nothing. First of all, they felt that they could cope with the domestic league with ease. Secondly, the game against Fiorentina at home had lost its suspense, and their advancement was a foregone conclusion.

So this should be a very easy two-game week. Although it was busy, there was no pressure.

For Chen Yingxiong, it wasn't like this.

He had pressure, and he also had motivation.

The goal of the UEFA Cup was to go further, and the goal of the league was to... become the top scorer!

Chen Yingxiong seemed to have set up two modes, switching back and forth at any time. In the UEFA Cup, he was relaxed and had energy to spare. When he returned to the league, he immediately switched to a mode of going all out and firing on all cylinders.

In the darkness, his eyes were glowing with a soul-stirring red light.

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In three league rounds, he frantically scored seven goals, far ahead of everyone else on the scorer list.

Counting the five goals in five UEFA Cup matches, he had scored twelve goals in eight games, and his form was good. Of course, everyone had reason to expect his performance in the match against Yaroslavl.

"'Can he continue to score?' Such a question is simply terrible! Now you should ask—how many goals can he score in the game? Scoring goals is as common as breathing for him. The suspense is how many goals he can score, one goal? Two goals? Or three goals? He scored at least two goals in each of the three league games, two braces, and a hat-trick..."

"Shinnik Yaroslavl's coach Sergey Pavlov must be familiar with Chen Yingxiong. When he coached Vladivostok Luch-Energiya, his team became the victim of Chen Yingxiong, who had just debuted, to prove himself... Now that they meet again, I believe he will definitely not misjudge again, haha!"

"Pavlov responded—he said that Chen Yingxiong is a very good shooter, and he also knows how outstanding Chen Yingxiong's recent state is, so in this game, his team will do everything possible to prevent Chen Yingxiong from scoring!"

"Is the task of ending Chen Yingxiong's crazy scoring momentum going to fall on Pavlov's Shinnik Yaroslavl!"

Of course this is impossible.

This is definitely wishful thinking.

Because...

"Chen—Ying—Xiong!! Here it comes! The eighth goal in the league this season!"

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