Chapter 1 Valery Gazzaev

Valery Gazzaev, the head coach of CSKA Moscow, always took his upcoming opponents seriously. So, after the match against Rostov, he called his assistant coach, Ratish, to watch the Zenit St. Petersburg game footage with him.

If there was any team outside of Moscow that could threaten CSKA's position, it would be Zenit St. Petersburg.

The Russian Premier League was, in a sense, no different from the "Greater Moscow League." Out of the sixteen teams in the Russian Premier League, five were in the Greater Moscow area: CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, and FC Moscow.

For a long time, the league title had been monopolized by teams from the Moscow area.

But after Zenit St. Petersburg received a huge sponsorship from Gazprom at the end of last year, Zenit was upgraded to their main rival.

Zenit had stars like Arshavin, who would be their main weapon in attacking the Moscow forces.

However, for Gazzaev today, he was more concerned about another person. That player who had been in great form some time ago, scoring five goals in three league games, and then mysteriously fell silent—the number 99.

"I don't think he's anything to worry about, Valery." Ratish had not watched Chen Yingxiong's game footage, but he had heard about him.

"The other teams in the Russian Premier League have already figured out how to deal with him. We think it's better to focus on Arshavin."

"Anyway… let's take a look first." Valery Gazzaev put the tape into the machine.

The TV screen lit up quickly.

The game on the tape was Zenit St. Petersburg against Spartak Moscow, Chen Yingxiong's first game without a goal. This game was also the object of eager study by Zenit's future opponents.

Soviet Wings had only provided a rough "how to contain Chen Yingxiong" blueprint, while Spartak developed this blueprint and perfected it into a tactical system.

Later teams did not need to do anything else; they could simply copy it.

In the video, facing Spartak Moscow's three-dimensional defense system, Chen Yingxiong charged left and right, but could not find a breakthrough.

"Indeed, a very comprehensive defensive strategy…" Gazzaev nodded. Spartak had provided him with a perfect tactic, and he felt there was nothing to adjust. He would just let the team do as they did. Spartak was the true aristocracy of Russian football, but now the strongest in Russian football was CSKA Moscow. If Spartak could do it, there was no reason why CSKA Moscow couldn't.

CSKA's defense was entirely at the level of the Russian national team. One center back and two full backs were all mainstays of the Russian national team, and another was a Lithuanian international. Such a defense was no worse than Spartak's.

Gazzaev was considering how to use Spartak's tactics to contain Chen Yingxiong, while Ratish looked surprised. Fortunately, Gazzaev was focused on studying Chen Yingxiong and did not pay attention to his assistant, otherwise, he might have asked a piece of almost forgotten "history…"

The figure of number 99 in the video reminded Ratish of what he had experienced at the youth team training ground a few months ago.

Actually, he had forgotten about it. Although that Chinese kid was a bit arrogant, he was busy with a myriad of things every day. How could he keep an unknown person in his heart all the time?

But today's video made him remember—wasn't this the Chinese kid who came to them to request a trial!

How did he go to Zenit?

The person who scored five goals in three league games was him?!

The person who completed a hat-trick against Soviet Wings was him?!

Ratish felt like he was seeing a ghost…

But fortunately, he was now restrained… Should he say this was his luck? If he continued that crazy performance… Ratish felt much better seeing Chen Yingxiong in his current state…

On the training ground of the Udelny Park training base.

Goalkeeper Malafeev lay on the ground, not looking at the football in the goal behind him, but turning his head to stare blankly outside the penalty area.

Everyone else had the same action as him—turning their heads to look at the person who had just taken the long shot, Chen Yingxiong.

Even the expressions on their faces were highly unified—mouths wide open, eyes wide, necks stretched out like turtles.

Assistant coach Porter, who was serving as the temporary referee, was also frightened by what had just happened and even forgot to blow the whistle.

Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Yingxiong jumped up with his arms raised: "Yes!"

The reason he was so happy was that he finally had a scoring weapon other than headers!

Just two days ago, he had leveled up again. The 120,000 experience points allowed him to reach level seven in seven days with superhuman will and physical strength.

He had put his talent point on "Heavy Cannon." Now, the long-range shot scoring rate given to him by the talent was already 14 percent, plus his original 10 percent, and the percentage he had accumulated through hard training during this period. Now his long-range shot scoring rate was about close to 30 percent. That is to say, he could basically score three out of ten shots.

To this end, he tested it in today's team match. This long shot from about twenty-seven meters away from the goal was blasted into the goal by him.

A very beautiful long shot!

The football had a slight arc, heading straight for the upper left corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Malafeev jumped up, but was unable to reach the football.

It was not that his strength was insufficient, but that Chen Yingxiong's shot was too fast and too powerful…

He just saw Chen Yingxiong suddenly swing his foot outside the penalty area, and after a bang, the football had already flown to the penalty spot… How could he have time to take off again?

That was why he turned his head to look at Chen Yingxiong so surprised, and that was why his teammates looked at Chen Yingxiong so surprised…

The ability Chen Yingxiong had shown in training before was that his header was super strong, and everything else was a mess. But just when everyone accepted this impression, he suddenly burst out with a powerful long shot!

How could people not be surprised?

You know, Chen Yingxiong had never tried long shots in games before… He was obviously very clear about his long-range shooting level.

Watching the football roar into the goal, Chen Yingxiong felt so good!

At the time when it was most needed, the Heavy Cannon showed its power!

Why did he say it was the time when it was most needed?

Just look at Taek standing on the field now… Originally, everyone thought that Taek had strained his thigh muscles and should not be able to recover so quickly. Who would have thought that Chen Yingxiong's sense of crisis for Taek had not dissipated for a moment, so he tried his best to recover and actually recovered before the game against CSKA Moscow!

This news was definitely a blow to Chen Yingxiong.

He would never give anything in his hand to anyone, even if that person was his teammate! This was Chen Yingxiong's temper.

The starting position was his, and he didn't want to give it up easily.

He was actually very utilitarian. He didn't want to be some bullshit super substitute. To play football, not being able to start meant you were a failure.

In order to start, he certainly had to have something that could impress the head coach. Just like he relied on his header to win the starting competition with Panov, this time he would rely on his "Heavy Cannon!"

Moreover, he had another reason why he had to start—next round, Zenit St. Petersburg's opponent was CSKA Moscow!

A gentleman takes ten years to exact revenge. I can't wait ten years. I'm going to take care of CSKA now!

Chen Yingxiong clenched his fist.

The insults, ridicule, and teasing he and his father had suffered on the training ground of CSKA Moscow were like a huge stone pressing on Chen Yingxiong's chest, oppressing him day and night, making him unable to breathe. Even in the most triumphant moments, there was a voice deep in his heart constantly repeating: "CSKA Moscow, CSKA Moscow, CSKA Moscow…"

All the humiliation and ridicule suffered in the past half month had been counted by Chen Yingxiong on the final CSKA Moscow.

If this revenge was not taken, he swore he would not be a hero!

Advocaat had just returned to his office when he heard a knock on the door.

"Please come in."

He thought it was his assistant coach Porter, or some other coach, but he was stunned by the person who pushed the door in.

It was Chen Yingxiong, who had just come down from the training ground and hadn't had time to change his clothes.

This kid always seemed to like to go directly to the head coach…

"What's the matter again, Yingxiong?" Advocaat asked.

"I would like to request to start in the league game this weekend, sir!" Chen Yingxiong said to Advocaat after entering.

"Reason?" Advocaat was not surprised or angry, but smiled. He knew that this was Chen Yingxiong's style.

"I must play in the game against CSKA Moscow, sir! Because… I want to take revenge!" Chen Yingxiong said loudly, clenching his fists.

"Take revenge?" Advocaat was surprised this time. "What's your connection with CSKA Moscow?"

He had heard that Chen Yingxiong was found by Panchenko outside the training base of CSKA Moscow, but he didn't know what happened to Chen Yingxiong in the training base of CSKA Moscow.

So Chen Yingxiong told Advocaat the story before he came to Zenit, even including his affairs in domestic clubs, and his wandering story in Europe.

Advocaat's mouth grew bigger and bigger as he listened, and he couldn't close it in the end.

He never expected that Chen Yingxiong had experienced such a thing…

Being expelled from the team for kicking a teammate who used dirty tricks, then going to Europe to make a breakthrough, self-promotion, running into walls and being turned away, and finally finally coming to CSKA Moscow, but being humiliated and teased…

He felt that he understood why Chen Yingxiong had to play in the game against CSKA Moscow.

But he was the team's head coach, and he had to consider the overall situation of the team more often.

"I can give you a chance to play, Yingxiong. But if you still can't score…"

"Then you can substitute me!" Chen Yingxiong said decisively, leaving no way out for himself. "Give me forty-five minutes. If I don't score in the first half, you can substitute me at halftime!"

Advocaat didn't expect Chen Yingxiong to be so bold, only asking for forty-five minutes of performance time… Was he confident? Or was he missing a string in his head?

He thought about it, and it wouldn't do him any harm anyway. Even if Chen Yingxiong really couldn't score, there would still be forty-five minutes to make adjustments—from this point of view, Chen Yingxiong was quite considerate of him, the head coach.

"Okay." Advocaat nodded. "I'll give you this opportunity!"