Chapter 167 Unbelievable Goal

On the television screen, Chen Hero, who had just charged to the arc in front of the penalty area, suddenly leaped up and rushed forward. At the same time, Arshavin's cross flew over as well.

He shook his head and headed the ball!

The football arced across the entire penalty area and plunged into the empty goal behind Akinfeev…

"Goal—scored—!!!" St. Petersburg's commentator, Shirgayevski, shouted.

The boos in the Luzhniki Stadium seemed to be drowned out by this cheer.

Akinfeev turned his head and looked at the football in the empty goal, a look of disbelief on his face.

Not to mention him, most of Zenit's players also had a "ghostly" expression on their faces, unable to believe that Chen Hero could head the football in from so far away from the goal…

"What an unbelievable goal! From twenty-five or six meters away from the goal, outside the penalty area! Hero scores with a header!" Yuri Petrov of National Television One also exclaimed.

"Chen Hero was outside the penalty area, but he headed the football in… Of course, Akinfeev's positioning also gave Hero a chance to lob the ball into the goal with a header!"

"Truly… a brilliant header! Such headers are rare!"

"I thought such goals could only be seen occasionally in intercontinental competitions… I didn't expect it to appear before our eyes today!"

The commentators each paid their respects to Chen Hero's goal.

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The ten thousand Zenit fans let out huge cheers, drowning out the seventy thousand CSKA Moscow fans in the stadium. At this moment, they were the masters of the Luzhniki Stadium!

"In the thirty-fifth minute, St. Petersburg Zenit equalized the score. The goal was scored by… Hero!!"

"CSKA Moscow fans didn't have long to be happy; their lead has vanished!"

After landing, Chen Hero ran towards the area where the CSKA fans were gathered, put his finger to his lips, and made a "shut up" gesture to them.

He was at odds with the CSKA fans.

You booed me, didn't you?

Boo now if you dare!

After responding to the CSKA fans' boos, Chen Hero turned around and hugged his teammates who were swarming up to celebrate with him.

Arshavin, who assisted him, couldn't wait to put his arm around his neck and asked, "How did you do it, Hero? How did you do it?!"

Surrounded by everyone, Chen Hero struggled to answer, "I saw that the goalkeeper was far away from the goal, so I thought I'd just try a lob shot…"

"You're a genius! Haha!" Anyukov slapped Chen Hero on the back, interrupting him.

Then his teammates swarmed up, patting his shoulders and ruffling his hair, giving him a thorough going over.

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Chen Hero finally managed to escape from his teammates' "torture," his hair a mess. He had once considered shaving his head, but since signing with Clear Shampoo, he had lost the right to decide about his hair—he had to keep it long enough and was absolutely not allowed to shave it!

Because this head of flowing black hair was what Clear Shampoo valued—would you expect a group of consumers to believe a bald man recommending shampoo to them?

Chen Hero stared at his messy hair and ran back to his half of the field. At this time, the cheers of the St. Petersburg Zenit fans gradually subsided, while the CSKA fans came back to their senses and let out a huge boo.

They were booing the goal they had conceded and also booing Chen Hero, who had dared to provoke them.

But Chen Hero didn't care at all. He shook his messy hair and ran back to his half of the field with his head held high.

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When Chen Hero headed the football into the CSKA goal, this time it was the man next to Putin who jumped up and cheered for the goal.

And he also followed Putin's example, rushing to the French windows and raising his arms in the air.

The television broadcast director obviously knew who was sitting in this box, so he gave it another close-up in a very timely manner, and the scene of the man raising his arms in the air appeared on the television screen and the big screen at the stadium.

The Zenit fans, who had just taken a breather, suddenly stood up from their seats again and let out huge cheers, which even drowned out the boos of the seventy thousand Zenit fans again!

Because the man who was celebrating Zenit's goal was the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia—Dmitry Medvedev!

He is also the most well-known St. Petersburg Zenit supporter!

Just now, Putin had shown up to support CSKA, which boosted the morale of the CSKA players and fans.

Now, Medvedev has also come out to support Zenit, which can be regarded as winning back a city in terms of popularity for his favorite team.

The St. Petersburg Zenit fans suddenly felt proud.

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The Zenit players who ran back to their half of the field also saw Medvedev on the big screen. Someone laughed and said, "I knew it, the president is here, how could the prime minister not come?"

Chen Hero also looked up at the big screen. He was a little dissatisfied—the Prime Minister's appearance had stolen the limelight from him, the goal scorer… Everyone was only cheering for the Prime Minister now, but not for him, the goal scorer.

He raised his arm, clenched his fist, and pointed to the sky, announcing his existence in the midst of cheers.

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On the CSKA side, many people had not yet recovered from Chen Hero's super long-range header and seemed a little at a loss.

Head coach Gazzaev rushed to the sidelines and shouted into the field to wake up his players.

"It's just a tie! We still have a chance!"

He was right, it was just a tie. CSKA hadn't lost the game yet. The first half wasn't over yet, and there were still plenty of opportunities for both sides.

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The excitement caused by Medvedev's appearance gradually disappeared, and the game continued.

In the box, Putin protested to Medvedev, "You can't copy me, Dmitry."

Medvedev was very happy that his team had equalized the score. "I also have the right to go to the front to celebrate the goal, Vladimir. We've equalized now!"

Putin quickly accepted this reality. After all, he was the head of state, and such things were nothing to him.

He did think that Chen Hero's goal was very beautiful.

"To be able to head the football in from so far away… that's really amazing." Putin praised. As a former KGB head who was proficient in everything, football was not a new thing to him.

Medvedev was very proud of his opponent's praise, and he smiled: "Of course, this Hero is known for his headers! And, he was discarded by your CSKA."

Putin's face was a little embarrassed. This incident was often used by others as an excuse to mock CSKA. But he was powerless to refute it, because that was the truth. CSKA Moscow was blind and actually let go of such a talented young man… If Chen Hero was in CSKA at this time, a three-peat in the league would not be a problem at all!

Now, he has gone to Zenit, and has become a mortal enemy with CSKA.

Even if CSKA wanted to bring him under their command, it would be unlikely.

"Ahem, let's watch the game…" Putin coughed and said.

Medvedev stopped talking and sat down to focus on the television screen.

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On the field, St. Petersburg Zenit was motivated by Medvedev's presence and played very aggressively during this period. However, Tymoshchuk kept his mind on the game. He didn't want Zenit to become like CSKA, only caring about attacking and forgetting about defending. In Chen Hero's goal just now, there was only one center back next to him, and he didn't interfere with him at all. This situation must not happen on Zenit's defense line.

So no matter how the frontcourt attacked, he stayed in the back and didn't go up. He guarded the central area.

Zenit also had this capital—even if the backcourt didn't go up to support, relying on these attacking players alone, they could still launch a threatening offensive. Their frontcourt had Arshavin, Dominguez, Chen Hero, Kerzhakov, and Radic Širl. These players had different characteristics, and their combination made it difficult for their opponents to defend against them. Their tactics might be able to defend against this style of player, but they might not be able to defend against another player with a completely different style.

For example, in the front line, Zenit had two players with completely different characteristics, Chen Hero and Kerzhakov. Kerzhakov was fast and could dribble and break through. When there was a huge space behind the opponent's defense line, it was his time to show off. And Chen Hero? He was tall and strong, and good at heading the ball. Such a center forward was good at positional warfare and was also a major weapon for breaking through dense defenses.

Just for these two forwards, the opponent's defense line had to make two preparations—shrink the defense line and not give Kerzhakov room to sprint, which was equivalent to letting Chen Hero enter the penalty area, very close to the goal, and his header would be too threatening to the goal. If they wanted to push Chen Hero out, the defense line would have to move forward collectively, and Chen Hero would be offside if he dared to go up, but in this way, Kerzhakov would have a lot of space for him to move around…

This was just the two forwards. In the midfield, Arshavin and Dominguez could break through, dribble, pass, and shoot. They were all-around midfielders, while Radic Širl on the left wing was a full back who was good at crosses. He was also a good player in set pieces, and he was currently the team's corner kick taker.

With these five people, Tymoshchuk didn't worry about Zenit's lack of offensive power at all.

He only needed to defend the rear and let the people in front be able to attack with confidence.

CSKA Moscow saw Zenit launching a large-scale attack and thought they had a chance to take advantage of it. They wanted to learn from Zenit and launch a counterattack, but Tymoshchuk was stuck in front of the center back, with the aura of one man guarding the pass.

As a result, neither side scored until the end of the first half, and the score remained at 1:1.

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