Chapter 1 The Excitement

The UEFA Cup's influence couldn't compare with the European Champions League, but for those teams from smaller leagues, it was still a very attractive competition.

After all, the UEFA Cup champion was still a European champion.

UEFA Cup matches were broadcast throughout Europe and even the world, and its influence was not something a second-rate European league like the Russian Premier League could compare with.

When the image of the entire Villarreal team walking down the steps of the plane appeared on the television screen, Chen Hero felt excited.

It was the natural reaction of a giant bear just waking up from hibernation, smelling the scent of food.

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February 13th, match day. Heavy snowfall.

"Good weather!" Anyukov couldn't help but exclaim when he saw the heavy snow.

"Indeed, good weather!" Kerzhakov chimed in.

For Russian teams, there was no better weather than playing a match with heavy snowfall.

Because Villarreal, from warm Spain, would definitely not be able to adapt to a football match in this kind of climate.

In fact, this had already been confirmed when Villarreal had just arrived in St. Petersburg.

Villarreal's coach, the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, was already complaining about the weather.

Now, the "captain" of this Yellow Submarine was frowning as he looked at the snowflakes fluttering outside the window.

Zenit, playing at home, had the home advantage; they were more adapted to this weather and the conditions of the pitch in this kind of weather.

This match was likely to be difficult. Although Pellegrini felt that in terms of pure strength, Zenit was far inferior to them, he didn't want to take risks in this away game. He decided to defend to the death away from home.

Giuseppe Rossi looked out the car window and saw several fans, naked to the waist, waving St. Petersburg Zenit's blue and white scarves in the snow, singing loudly.

He couldn't help but shiver.

"God, aren't they cold?" he exclaimed.

"Drunk Russians...they're all like that." The knowledgeable Frenchman Robert Pires glanced out the window and then withdrew his gaze.

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The heavy snow did not freeze the enthusiasm of the Russian fans. St. Petersburg Zenit's fans began queuing to enter the stadium in the afternoon, and you could even see people cheering loudly with their torsos bare – these people had just drunk a lot of vodka... Every year, many people freeze to death in the Russian winter, and a large part of these people are drunkards who fall asleep on the streets at night, and the next day... they never open their eyes again.

They whistled and gave the middle finger to the Villarreal bus outside the stadium, not friendly at all.

But when the Zenit bus drove by, they cheered.

This was home!

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"You must remember to warm up thoroughly! Warming up is more important than the match! Anyone who gets injured because they didn't warm up properly won't get any sympathy!" Assistant coach Kurt Potter roared in the locker room.

At the same time, the players were changing their clothes, preparing to go out and warm up.

"It's okay! If the warm-up isn't enough, we'll make up for it with alcohol, haha!" Denisov joked in the locker room. The outdoor temperature at the time of this match was minus ten degrees Celsius, and playing in such a temperature was indeed a difficult thing.

Potter glared at him, but didn't say anything. He knew that Denisov was the joker in the locker room, and that he just blurted things out without thinking.

Chen Hero felt cold, so he put on a close-fitting thermal underwear inside his jersey. This kind of underwear was very light and thin, but very warm. It used high-tech fabric that could absorb and heat up the body's water vapor.

Chen Hero had worn this kind of close-fitting clothing last season, and it was indeed very warm.

※※※

While the players from both sides were warming up outside, Chen Hero and his friends, while warming up, didn't forget to pay attention to their opponents in this match.

"Look at them shrinking their necks like cowards, ahahaha!" Denisov was very happy that his opponents were suffering in this kind of weather.

Chen Hero joined him in laughing at his opponents without a care in the world.

"I really doubt what fighting power they have..." Kerzhakov also curled his lips.

The Villarreal players noticed that in the opponent's half of the field there were a few people huddled together, pointing at their side and laughing heartily.

Obviously, they were laughing at how they were shrinking their necks and shivering from the cold...

A group of people, despite trembling non-stop, still glared back fiercely – they absolutely could not lose in terms of momentum!

But this momentum didn't last long before it was immediately deflated...

"It's, it's really cold..."

"The weather forecast said...said today...today it's minus ten degrees! This kind of weather, weather, I think, I think we should just cancel the match!"

A group of people's teeth were chattering, and they couldn't even speak properly.

※※※

After warming up, the players from both sides returned to the locker room. The Villarreal players almost slipped back to the locker room at the speed of light, they were terrified of being frozen outside. At least there was air conditioning in the locker room.

Advocaat was waiting for his players to return in the locker room. He had a few last words to say to everyone.

"Villarreal is a strong team, so the key round of the round of sixteen is today. As long as we can establish an advantage at our home ground, then the chances of advancing are very high. Therefore, I will not accept any result other than victory, not even a draw. We must win, and if possible, try to win by as many goals as possible!"

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Pellegrini had studied the recordings of Everton's home game against St. Petersburg Zenit. He knew that Zenit had a very good center forward – Hero, number 99.

This center forward was excellent at headers, and also had a long-range shooting ability. He couldn't be underestimated.

After the match, Moyes also admitted that the reason he lost at home was because he underestimated that Hero. He certainly couldn't repeat the same mistake.

So in this match, he put a lot of effort into aerial defense.

First of all, he arranged for two center backs with excellent headers and good height in the penalty area. The 1.92-meter French defender Pascal Cygan partnered with the 1.82-meter Argentine center back Fabricio Fuentes. These two were excellent at headers. Although Fuentes was a little short, Cygan's height was still able to compete with the opponent's Hero. Originally, the team's main center back was Diego Godin, but this young center back was good in every way – he had a steady style of play, a good sense of position, and good timing for tackles, and his anticipation was excellent... But his body was too weak, and he was often knocked over when facing strong center forwards. The opponent of the Yellow Submarine's defense in this match was precisely a strong center forward, the kind that looked very barbaric. Pellegrini had no choice but to put him on the bench and start the stronger Fuentes.

In addition to arranging for defenders with excellent headers to defeat Chen Hero in the air, he also asked the two wingers not to easily give Zenit's wingers the opportunity to assist and then cross.

The snow was so heavy in this match that the opponent would definitely not be able to play any ground passing game. Playing high balls was the smart choice.

Therefore, Villarreal did not intend to stick to Spain's technical and tactical style and play any ground passing game. Pellegrini started Joseba Llorente, a center forward who was 1.84 meters tall and good at headers. He was the only one at the front.

Behind him were three attacking midfielders, Cani in the middle, Spanish international Santiago Cazorla on the right, and the 21-year-old Chilean wonderkid Matias Fernandez on the left.

Cazorla and Fernandez were both players who had the ability to break through on the wings and also had the ability to cross. They were responsible for delivering shells to Llorente in the penalty area.

In the defensive midfielder position, Pellegrini arranged for captain Marcos Senna and the 23-year-old Spanish young defensive midfielder Bruno.

The two full-backs were Angel on the right and Spanish international Joan Capdevila on the left.

This was the Yellow Submarine's starting lineup for this match.

4-2-3-1. The core of this lineup was to solidify the defense and break through on the wings.

Pellegrini had put a lot of effort into suppressing Chen Hero's performance.

With such careful arrangements and preparations, he was not too worried about Chen Hero now. What he was worried about was the weather, which might lead to some unexpected events...

※※※

Zenit's starting lineup was not much different from before, that is, there was a change in the center back position. Lombaerts received a red card in the previous match against Everton and could not play in this match. Advocaat sent out the two "old" center back combinations – Erik Hagen and Kryzhanac.

The key weakness of these two defenders was their slow turning speed, and they were not started in the match against Everton. But this was not a problem now, because the snow was heavy, and he expected Pellegrini would not send out speedy forwards like Giuseppe Rossi and Nihat. Because they would not play a ground passing game, and direct passes would also be rarely used due to the poor pitch conditions. He would use Llorente, a tall center forward who was 1.84 meters tall, and the football would mainly fly in the air.

So slow turning speed was not a big weakness, as long as they could defend against aerial attacks.

※※※

The reporters in the press box had already received the starting lineups for both teams in this match. They were shivering in the press box without air conditioning or heating, but they were still enthusiastically discussing the starting lineups of both teams.

"Not surprising at all, both sides are going to focus on high balls!"

"The air, today will become an area of intense contention between the two sides. I wonder how many times the air raid alarm at Petrovsky Stadium will sound today?"

A group of Chinese reporters laughed.

These people had been reporting on matches at Petrovsky Stadium for the past season, and they were used to the air raid sirens. At first, they found them a bit shrill, but later they found them beautiful, like heavenly music.

The music being played on the stadium's loudspeakers suddenly stopped.

A burst of cheers erupted on the scene, and the reporters in the press box who were discussing the starting lineups also stopped. They all turned their attention to the exit of the tunnel.

There, the players from both sides, led by the referee, entered the stadium!

The match was about to begin!

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PS: Added chapter delivered. Although it's still a few votes short, there's no need to be so rigid.

Also, I apologize for the problem of there being a few too many typos that Old Fish pointed out. Because I write quickly, the number of typos naturally increases. Many times my eyes just skim over the text, and I may not even realize what my fingers have typed... And I have to work hard to rush the manuscript every day, so I really don't have time to check for typos.

Thank you for the criticism. I will try to proofread the manuscript before uploading it in the future, but my eyes are staring at the document for more than ten hours a day, so it is inevitable that I will be dizzy and miss things. Please forgive me if I miss something...