From the very beginning of the match, the entire Zenit team launched a fierce offensive towards the Glasgow Rangers' goal, keeping in mind Advocaat's demands.

Even without the coach's instructions, the players themselves would have done the same—who wouldn't want to end the game in the first thirty minutes, kill all suspense, and turn the remaining sixty minutes into garbage time?

Of course, whether they could do it was another matter, but as Chen Hero believed—first, you have to dare to dream!

In the fourth minute, Zenit created a threatening attack opportunity.

Dominguez passed the ball to Chen Hero during a counterattack. Chen Hero didn't hog the ball, but passed it directly into the open space. Teammate Arshavin understood perfectly, having already cut into the open space. He received the ball, carried it into the penalty area, and then unleashed a furious shot just as the defender was closing in.

The ball ultimately hit the side netting, giving the Rangers fans in the stands a false alarm and the Zenit fans a brief moment of joy.

"Ah—ah! Too bad... the side netting! Arshavin's shot missed the target, slightly wide! He gave the Rangers fans a scare! From the start of the match, Zenit has launched a swift offensive! They seem to want to establish an early lead in this final, and bring the rest of the match under their control! To that end, they haven't hesitated at all, and are just launching a full-scale attack on Glasgow Rangers. Looking at it this way... perhaps we can expect this match to be anything but dull?"

Arshavin, who didn't score, also looked very frustrated. He covered his face with his hands and ran back, clearly ashamed that he had missed the shot.

The Zenit fans were ignited by Arshavin's shot, and they sang and shouted in the stands, cheering for their team.

※※※

Saint Petersburg Zenit's offensive was indeed fierce.

Just one minute after Arshavin's miss, Chen Hero unleashed a cold shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball was saved by goalkeeper Alexander.

"Ah—Chen Hero! Alexander's save is crucial!"

In the twelfth minute, Zenit won a direct free kick, but Hils' free kick was caught directly by Alexander.

Cheers erupted from the Glasgow Rangers fans in the stands.

Advocaat frowned on the sidelines.

The Rangers' tactics were no different from what he had expected; they had indeed locked up from the start, using defense to contain Zenit's goals.

That wasn't a problem, but he had noticed a bad sign from these few attacks: Glasgow Rangers' goalkeeper Neil Alexander seemed to be finding his form...

It was evident from his two saves that he seemed very excited and active.

This was a typical characteristic of a goalkeeper in excellent form. The goalkeeper position certainly requires stability, but that is the foundation. On top of that stability, you must get excited, be able to quickly enter the game. Forwards can afford to warm up slowly, but if a goalkeeper warms up slowly, it's a dead end. It can lead to a goal conceded within the first few minutes, putting his team in an extremely difficult position.

In fact, being a goalkeeper is a bit like having an SM inclination—they always need to be bombarded to maintain their form. If they are idle and relaxed for the first eighty-nine minutes of the match, then maybe the opponent will score on a counterattack in the ninetieth minute.

Now, looking at Alexander's state, Advocaat had a feeling that he was finding his form... He was worried about this situation—that Zenit would be stopped by a goalkeeper.

This was not impossible; a goalkeeper playing well enough is worth an entire team.

Listen to the cheers of those Glaswegians in the stands. At the beginning of the match, they were basically silent. But now they were as lively as fish thrown into the water.

Their momentum was gradually increasing, which would boost Glasgow Rangers' confidence in defense. Once their entire team's confidence and morale are raised, this match will be difficult for Zenit to win. Advocaat was planning a blitzkrieg in this match. He didn't want to be dragged into the mud by Glasgow Rangers, as that would definitely not benefit his team.

To avoid any complications, it was best to score early.

※※※

Advocaat should have calculated his luck for today. Because things were not going as he wished. Almost thirty minutes had passed, and Zenit had not been able to break through Alexander's defenses. During these thirty minutes of the first half, everyone saw the entire Zenit team surrounding Alexander's goal and bombarding it, but either the shots were wide or high, or they were saved by goalkeeper Alexander.

During this time, the names mentioned most often by the commentators, the names shouted the loudest, were not Chen Hero, who was highly anticipated before the match, nor Arshavin. But...

"Neil Alexander—!! Wonderful, wonderful! He blocked Chen Hero's long shot!!"

Right in the thirtieth minute, Chen Hero got a chance for a long shot. At that time, he was twenty-eight meters away from the goal, slightly to the right, and he used his right foot to directly shoot towards the goal.

The ball flew like a cannonball towards the far end of the goal. Many Zenit fans were preparing to stand up and shout "Hurrah!", but they saw Alexander dive to the ground, using his arms to block the ball.

Because Chen Hero's shot was very powerful, even though Alexander only used his arms to block it, the ball still bounced out of bounds due to the strong reaction force, and did not fall in front of the goal. Unexpectedly, Chen Hero's heavy shot helped Alexander instead.

When he got up from the ground, he rubbed his arms, which showed just how "heavy" Chen Hero's shot was!

But no matter how heavy, without a goal, Chen Hero was not happy.

It had been thirty minutes, and he had not been able to break the deadlock and score a goal.

He had been very active during these thirty minutes, trying hard to find opportunities to score. Unfortunately, either his opportunities were not good, or when the opportunities were good, he ran into a goalkeeper who was clearly in form.

Damn it!

He kicked the air unhappily, as if it were a soccer ball, wanting to kick it into the goal.

※※※

How can one explain Zenit's dominance in the first half?

It was not until the thirty-seventh minute that Glasgow Rangers got their first shot... perhaps this can somewhat illustrate how embarrassed Glasgow Rangers were in the first half.

But even so embarrassed, they completed the task their coach gave them in the entire first half—they didn't concede a goal!

They were qualified enough to walk off the field with a proud expression and return to the locker room. The Glasgow Rangers fans in the stands were also cheering loudly, cheering for their players.

"Well done, Rangers! That's it! Let's bring them down in the second half!"

Compared to the satisfied Glasgow players and fans, the Saint Petersburg Zenit players were frowning as they walked off the field. The fans' momentum was also much smaller. At the beginning of the first half, they were full of confidence in the victory of the match. In terms of the team's strength and condition, taking down the Rangers was not a problem at all.

Who would have thought...

They squandered forty-five minutes and gained nothing.

※※※

The television broadcast gave a close-up shot of Chen Hero walking off the field with his head down, for a full ten seconds, following him all the way until he walked off the field.

The English commentator was talking about his performance in the first half: "Although Chen Hero had many opportunities to score in the first half, and he worked hard, he was always a little short of scoring."

Whether it was an illusion or not, Sun Jihai always felt that there was a sense of "relief" in the English commentator's tone.

Were they afraid that Alan Shearer's record would be broken?

The media had been hyping this matter before the match, and the English media's position was very clear—they didn't want Chen Hero to score in the final. Serious newspapers would also find some reasons to explain why Chen Hero's chances of scoring in the final were low, while the tabloids simply asked Glasgow Rangers not to let Chen Hero score.

Because this record was originally created by Alan Shearer, a legendary figure in English football. Now Chen Hero had already shared it with Alan Shearer, and if he surpassed the legend and exclusively held the new record, how could the always proud and arrogant English people bear it?

The record created by a legendary striker was broken by a player from an insignificant football country, which was really... to put it seriously, it was a disgrace to English football!

Sun Jihai didn't like the English people's attitude. He hoped that Chen Hero would score a goal and permanently write the Chinese name in the history of the UEFA Cup.

But he couldn't make the decision. Chen Hero lacked luck in the first half, and many shots didn't score. The opponent's goalkeeper was too fierce. He was worried that this would affect Chen Hero's mentality. If he became anxious in the second half, goals would only get further and further away from him.

This person has a relatively fiery temper and is more prone to mental imbalance. Don't be anxious...

※※※

Sun Jihai was worried about Chen Hero, and Advocaat was also worried about Chen Hero. What they were both worried about was the same thing—that Chen Hero would lose his composure.

In fact, Chen Hero was indeed very angry when he returned to the locker room.

He was in such good form in this match, but he ran into a goalkeeper who was in even better form than him!

He had never heard of this goalkeeper before. If it was a goalkeeper of Kahn's level, he could accept it a little more. Now he was actually blocked from scoring by an unknown person, which was really... too damn it!

He returned to the locker room and punched a locker. This caused his teammates to look at him with worried eyes.

Arshavin went up to comfort him. "Relax, Hero!"

Chen Hero nodded, took a deep breath, and then said, "I'm fine, Shava!"

"Really fine?"

"Really fine. Want to see my performance in the second half?"

Seeing him say that, Arshavin didn't know what to say. He couldn't force Chen Hero to say that he still had something on his mind, right?

After Advocaat came in, he saw Chen Hero chatting with Arshavin, and he was slightly relieved. Being able to chat meant that he was still normal.

Chen Hero was the main force for scoring in the second half, so there couldn't be any problems...

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ps, here comes another update~

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