Chapter 3 Seven Goals in Three Rounds

Three rounds of league play with seven goals. This incredible performance put Chen Yingxiong far ahead on the scorer list right from the start. Second-place Pavlyuchenko only had three goals in three games. An average of one goal per game was already awesome, but Chen Yingxiong was averaging 2.33 goals, almost breaking through the sky.

When he was far ahead on the scorer list, he became the focus of media attention.

Both Russian and Chinese media were reporting on his crazy form.

Everyone felt this was incredible, but also normal—it wasn't impossible for a player to suddenly explode with amazing form in a short period. The key was to see how long this form could last.

Including the four UEFA Cup matches, Chen Yingxiong had participated in seven official matches, and he had scored eleven goals...

An average of 1.5 per game seemed much more acceptable than an average of 2.33.

But the media was still marveling and finding it unbelievable.

Perhaps it was because Chen Yingxiong's form had erupted too suddenly... Before the season started, no one expected him to be so awesome. They originally thought that his outstanding performance in the UEFA Cup would cause him to have a slight slump in the league to adjust his form. Or he would simply conserve his strength in the league for the sake of the UEFA Cup. After all, what else was there for him to compete for in the league? He had been too successful last season. Perhaps the only thing he had to surpass was himself?

But who knew that Chen Yingxiong had found another goal that made him surge with power.

Although it was unknown whether this goal could be achieved in the end, it could motivate him to keep working hard, forcing himself to keep rushing forward, desperately rushing forward, and finally see where his limits were and see if he could surpass himself.

On the Chinese internet, discussions about Chen Yingxiong were also in full swing. He was now the undisputed number one star in Chinese football—this was not an official assessment, but in the minds of most Chinese fans, he was.

Although his personality caused him to be constantly controversial and there were many people in China who hated him, so what? No matter how much those people hated him, they could not change the fact that he kept scoring goals. And this was exactly where those fans who liked him cheered for him.

"Crazy Bear Winnie is too awesome! Seven goals in three league games! What is the concept of 2.33 goals per game, comrades! Even the world's top strikers may not have such data!"

"Predicting the headline of *Sports* on Monday morning—'Three Games, Seven Goals, Possessed by a Demon King, Peak Ronaldo Yields'!"

"Please advise, are the defenders in the Russian league very weak? Why is Hero scoring so crazy?"

"Who knows, we didn't see the live broadcast of the game. But anyway, this number is still quite shocking in Europe!"

"The Russian media is going crazy. My classmate who is studying in Moscow said that Chen Yingxiong's name and photos are all over the Moscow newspapers now! As a Chinese student, he now has a lot of face at school! Haha!"

"Awesome! Promote the prestige of my great China!"

"Why didn't the Chinese team recruit such a player?"

"Don't let him enter the national team, okay? Will he be ruined if he enters?"

"Actually, it's not certain... I think it's more likely that the Chinese team's locker room will be thrown into chaos by him..."

"The Chinese Football Association can't recruit such a disobedient player! I bet he will never be able to enter the national team. If I lose, I will cut off my chicken! I will upload a picture as proof at that time!"

"The poster is a real man! Even if you unfortunately castrate yourself, you are still a pure man in our hearts!"

...

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The madness in the league made everyone pay more attention to his performance in the UEFA Cup.

On April 3rd, in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, Chen Yingxiong challenged Fiorentina away.

For the rookie in European football, this UEFA Cup gave Chen Yingxiong many firsts. For example, the first time he set foot on the English stadium, the first time he appeared on the Spanish stadium. Now he appeared in Italy as a player for the first time...

Italy had bad memories for Chen Yingxiong—he and his father were cheated out of a thousand euros in this country.

He still remembered his father sitting on the side of the street, holding his head in his hands with a sad face. And he was venting his anger on a public phone. It was really a complete failure, embarrassing.

But it was at that time that he made the decision to go to Russia. Just like the Red Army decided to go to Yan'an under the difficult situation of being besieged, it started a great journey...

Now he was considered successful in Russia, but for the entire European continent, he was still just one of countless ordinary players, no different from those players A, player B, player C, player edfgh...

For him, the European continent was not a whole, but a series of fragmented countries, like dungeons in World of Warcraft, and he had to conquer them one by one.

He had already introduced himself to England and Spain. Now it was Italy's turn.

As a heroic figure, the debut must of course be grand.

This debut was very important. Chen Yingxiong was determined to play this away game well. He wanted to leave a deep impression on the people of Florence, and even the entire Italy.

Italy had the Milan duo and Juventus, such giants. If he performed well, would he be able to attract their arrogant eyes?

Everything was unknown.

All he could do was try his best to show his best side. As for whether he would attract those giants to favor him... it really could only be said that man proposes, God disposes.

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Chen Yingxiong was very familiar with Florence because this team and the entire city were very popular in China. Back then, when Serie A's seven sisters were in high spirits, Florence had accumulated a lot of popularity in China.

And this city always became a place that many literati and petty bourgeoisie scrambled to worship and yearn for.

So the exposure rate of this name in China was quite high.

But Chen Yingxiong did not come here when he and his father came to Europe to promote themselves. They knew that coming would be a waste of time and energy, and most importantly, a waste of money—going to one more place meant spending more money. At that time, Chen Yingxiong and his father couldn't wait to tear one euro into ten parts and spend it.

Now, he didn't have to worry about spending money, because everything was paid for.

He could enjoy the rooms and services of star-rated hotels to his heart's content. There were luxury buses to pick him up and drop him off, and the media flocked to him like a real star.

Of course, the pressure he faced was actually very high. It's just that he was used to turning pressure into motivation—if he could win the game away, wouldn't it be even easier to return to the home court? So as long as we win this away game, we can go to the semi-finals. Then we can challenge Bayern Munich and feel what the real Champions League strength is like!

In this way, Chen Yingxiong turned the heavy pressure into the motivation for his struggle.

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Cesare Prandelli and his coaching staff had studied Zenit's game videos many times.

Like Moyes, he would also select a few threatening players from the Zenit team to focus on, and these people would become the targets of the team in the game.

But unlike Moyes, he did not ignore Chen Yingxiong.

He couldn't ignore it—he had already scored six goals in the UEFA Cup and jumped to second place on the UEFA Cup scorer list, only one goal less than Toni, who was currently in first place.

If he could still ignore such a forward, he would not be a qualified coach.

It was understandable that Moyes ignored him. At that time, Chen Yingxiong was like an ugly duckling. Apart from his eye-catching appearance, he was no special. There were too many such centers, and they were not worth worrying about.

But in the game against Marseille, Chen Yingxiong showed his ability to hold the ball with his back, which immediately made him difficult to defend.

This aroused Prandelli's strong attention and vigilance.

A center who was excellent at heading, could also hold the ball with his back to the goal outside the penalty area and turn around to shoot, and at the same time had the ability to shoot from a long distance... how to contain him?

He felt that the only thing worth celebrating was that the center's ability to hold the ball with his back to the goal seemed to be not yet fully formed, and it was a bit erratic. At the same time, his foot skills were still rough. He had too much physical contact when attacking. Although this would show his strength, it would also make the referee stare at him—he committed more fouls in the attack.

Now in the team, captain Dario Dainelli was the only defender who could compete with Chen Yingxiong in terms of height. He was 1.91 meters tall and weighed 83 kilograms... the weight difference was more than ten kilograms, but football games were not about who was heavier who could win.

Gamberini's ability was also outstanding, but obviously he was not strong enough. Compared to the monster-like Chen Yingxiong, he was like a thin little guy. His task should be to help fill the gaps and keep an eye on Kerzhakov.

In addition, to contain such a center, he had to find a way to cut off the connection between Zenit's midfield and his... such a center who was not good at dribbling and had poor personal ball control skills, once he lost the support of the midfield, was like a tank without gasoline, no different from a pile of scrap iron.

But how to cut off his connection with the midfield?

Prandelli felt that he had to focus on Arshavin, Dominguez and Hilla, these three passers.

In Advocaat's tactical system, the main task of these three people was to continuously transport shells to Chen Yingxiong. Hilla's dribbling was average, but he was extremely good at crossing. His crosses were the main source of Chen Yingxiong's header goals. Arshavin's crosses were average, but his dribbling was excellent and his breakthrough ability was extremely strong. Once he messed up the defense and sent the ball to the front of the goal, Chen Yingxiong could easily score with a header. And Dominguez did not often operate on the wing. His task was to distribute the ball to Chen Yingxiong, Arshavin or Hilla. He decided the team's offensive direction. Sometimes he would also act as a shadow striker and launch a surprise attack under Chen Yingxiong's cover.

As for Kerzhakov... under Chen Yingxiong's powerful light, he was a tactical coordinator. His main task was to attract some defensive attention to Chen Yingxiong, and then after Chen Yingxiong was completely restricted, he would appear as a problem-solver...

So he was not the most urgent object to pay attention to.

Prandelli and his assistants had made arrangements for Chen Yingxiong and his teammates. Of course, this arrangement was not made after Chen Yingxiong and his teammates arrived in Florence. In fact, it started a week ago. In this week, the team had to learn how to defensively target Zenit in training.

The only pity was that in the team, he couldn't find someone who could match Chen Yingxiong in stature to be everyone's training opponent. On the one hand, the defenders had first-hand information, which was convenient for them to know how to deal with this behemoth in the game.

After all, watching the video, no matter how much you watched, it was not as good as experiencing it yourself to explain the problem.

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ps, everyone is very powerful, only 14 more votes and there will be an extra update. Everyone, work hard and strive to have another update before I go out after dinner!