The coach of Nalchik Spartak certainly felt wronged—he didn't even know Zenit had such a player before the game...
Was he born from a rock?
Originally, Nalchik Spartak's tactic was to defend and counterattack, shrinking their defense and then seeking opportunities to counterattack. But now that Chen Hero was at the front, constantly bombing Nalchik Spartak's goal with his aerial advantage, their shrinking defense turned into an all-out defense, and as for seeking opportunities to counterattack... that was basically gone. Being able to avoid conceding more goals was something to be thankful for; who had the mind to consider attacking?
During halftime, Chen Hero became the focus in the locker room. Everyone congratulated him on his first goal, and Advocaat praised his performance.
However, Advocaat did not intend to let Chen Hero play the entire game.
With the aim of protecting the novice, after all, this was only Chen Hero's first game. Advocaat substituted him off in the sixty-third minute of the match. Panov finally got his chance to play.
Although Chen Hero was unwilling to be substituted so early, he accepted the coach's decision—he actually wanted to stay on the field, because he felt there were more scoring opportunities. Scoring a goal in the first game was good, of course, but wouldn't it be even better to score twice in the first game? A hat trick would be awesome, a poker? That would be so awesome that he would wake up laughing at night!
As Chen Hero walked off the field, Kirov Stadium erupted in cheers and applause. Zenit's fans were very satisfied with Chen Hero's performance. This was applause to express their gratitude.
Although they didn't know who this person was before, they would remember the name "Hero" firmly after this game.
"You did well, Hero. But now you need to rest. Don't use up all your energy in one game." Advocaat met Chen Hero as he walked down and hugged him, explaining in his ear why he had substituted him early.
"Thank you, Coach. Actually, I'm a perpetual motion machine!"
"Haha!" Advocaat was amused by Chen Hero. "Go and high-five your teammates to celebrate."
Chen Hero walked towards the bench.
Denisov couldn't wait to jump up from his seat. He held out his hand: "Come on, Hero! Let's cheer for your damn goal! Yeah!"
Chen Hero walked over and high-fived all his teammates to celebrate, finally sitting down next to Denisov.
"Hey, kid, how does it feel to score in the Premier League?" Denisov nudged him.
"It's awesome! It's the coolest!" Chen Hero gave a thumbs up.
"That's right, that's how it feels, haha!" After speaking, Denisov lowered his voice and said to Chen Hero, leaning close to his ear, "I say... to celebrate your first goal in the first team, and also your first goal for Zenit, how about our eat-drink-and-be-merry group organizes a celebration? We were going to have our first activity anyway, so why not combine them together? How about tonight!"
"Tonight? Is that okay?"
"Yes! After home games, the Dutch coach always gives us a day off. I'm telling you, once we walk out of the locker room at Kirov, we're free! We can do whatever we want, nobody cares!"
"Whoa! Not bad!" Chen Hero whistled.
"Then... fine wine, beautiful women, delicious food, do whatever you want. Damn, it'll be so awesome!" Denisov said with great enthusiasm, and Chen Hero was also yearning for it—since he joined Zenit, he had been like an ascetic monk for almost two months, just cultivating hard every day. Hanging up to grind experience didn't count, at least he was willing to do that. In the Yudeni Park training base, he faced Yesenin every day, with no beautiful women, not even a glimpse of a Russian girl. Life was too bland.
Today, he finally had this opportunity, and no matter what, he had to see the glamorous world of Russia's Northern Capital!
"It's a deal!" Chen Hero held out his fist.
"I'll be a puppy if I lie to you!" Denisov held out his fist and bumped it against Chen Hero's.
The two lowered their heads and kept discussing where to go to have fun tonight, seemingly not caring at all about the game on the field.
However, Zenit on the field did not perform as leisurely as these two on the bench. After Chen Hero left the field, the pressure on Nalchik Spartak's defense suddenly eased. After Panov came on, he was like Chen Hero at the beginning, not coordinating well with the team. But Chen Hero at least had the obvious advantage of heading, what did Panov have? Kerzhakov had everything he had, and Kerzhakov was younger than him, and more familiar with his teammates.
The attack was somewhat chaotic, unable to put continuous pressure on Nalchik Spartak, and Nalchik Spartak's ambition was also stirring. Now they were only one goal behind Zenit, which was completely within the scope of being able to equalize with a little effort. This was the score that was most likely to make the lagging side feel confident.
On the contrary, the leading Zenit seemed very nervous.
They were afraid that the lead they had finally obtained would vanish in an instant.
Subsequently, Advocaat had to make frequent substitutions and adjustments.
Thirty-six-year-old Ukrainian veteran defensive midfielder Gorshkov replaced Spivak, the winger, and the team changed its formation to three central midfielders plus Arshavin, a free man in the frontcourt.
This increased the interception in the midfield.
Then, Križanac was used to replace Hyun Young-min to strengthen the defense line.
After all this tossing and turning, Zenit, who were playing at home, finally stabilized their position, and relying on their home advantage, finally maintained the score.
With Chen Hero's goal in the twenty-ninth minute of the first half, Saint Petersburg Zenit narrowly defeated Nalchik Spartak 1:0 at home.
When the whistle sounded to end the game, Chen Hero and Denisov ended their enthusiastic discussion, got up from the bench, and prepared to return to the locker room.
The TV broadcast camera gave Chen Hero a close-up, and Chen Hero also noticed that there was a cameraman carrying a camera next to him.
He made a gesture of pointing to his back at the camera lens, signaling the other party to film there.
So the cameraman turned around, and the capital letters "hero" appeared on the screen.
After giving Chen Hero a close-up, the cameraman went around and continued to follow the filming, the camera showing him high-fiving his teammates who were walking off the field, celebrating the victory. But more often, his teammates came up to grab and rub his hair, congratulating him on his goal that brought the team a victory.
It should be known that this goal was not the kind of icing on the cake that was meaningless except for brushing data, but directly determined the result of this game, bringing the team three valuable points. The gold content was completely different.
Professional players all know what such a goal means to the scorer. His position in the coach's mind will be more stable from now on...
As long as his performance doesn't fluctuate too much, the road ahead will be much easier.
"Well done, Hero!" Erik Hagen came up, just raised his hand, and saw Chen Hero hug his head.
"What are you doing?"
"You want to grab my hair too, right?" Chen Hero looked at him warily. He had been frightened by these enthusiastic teammates who swarmed up. Why do foreigners always like to grab and rub their hair to express affection and enthusiasm? The camera is still next to me, if it films my messy hair or something, wouldn't it ruin my image?
The captain of the Norwegian national team laughed loudly, and then patted Chen Hero heavily on the shoulder. Chen Hero grimaced in pain.
Captain Radimov also came up to congratulate Chen Hero on his debut: "A very successful debut, Hero. I hope you don't get arrogant, keep this state!"
"Thank you, Captain!"
Arshavin also came over. Although Radimov was the captain, Arshavin had a higher prestige in the team. He smiled at Chen Hero: "What an amazing transformation!" He still remembered that when Chen Hero first came to the first team, he performed poorly in training, and looked like a stray dog.
Who would have thought that now he was already a "hero" who scored a goal in his debut and helped the team win the game.
Chen Hero also gave him a thumbs up: "I was too excited when I scored the goal, I forgot to thank you. Your pass was great! If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to head it in, ha!"
After sending Arshavin away, Chen Hero turned his head and saw his translator and Russian teacher, Yesenin.
Yesenin was standing far away at the exit of the stands.
Chen Hero gave him a thumbs up, and Yesenin returned a thumbs up.
Someone suddenly put his arm around Chen Hero's shoulder. It was Anyukov. "I said, don't keep the reporters waiting, our great hero! Ha! Those reporters are all waiting to interview you!" He shouted in Chen Hero's ear.
Only then did Chen Hero remember that he was going to be interviewed by reporters.
After being heavily reported by the reporters, he was considered famous.
It's a pity that these are all Russian reporters, there are no Chinese reporters... otherwise his parents in China would also be able to know his news.
But... let's take it one step at a time. First become famous in Russia, and then become famous all over the world!
In the mixed zone, reporters were挤作一团 *ji zuo yi tuan* (packed together).
When most of the players from both sides came over, they only asked one or two questions and let the other party pass. When Arshavin appeared, it made these reporters a little excited. But the number of questions asked did not exceed five.
Everyone was waiting for one person. They craned their necks and looked towards the passage, like ducks hanging on a pole.
Finally, the person they were waiting for was late, the entrance suddenly darkened, and a burly figure walked in.
"Number 99!"
"Hey! Big guy!"
"Hero!"
"Hero! Hero!"
The reporters called out to each other, hoping to attract Chen Hero's attention.
There were also several Korean reporters shouting at Chen Hero in Korean. If this person was really a Korean compatriot, then he would definitely stop in front of them.
But Chen Hero only heard a burst of "Annyeonghaseyo" in his ear. He didn't know what it meant at all. The only thing he could understand was "Seumnida." This let him know the identity of these people—Koreans!
He turned his head and showed a smile to the Korean reporters.
The Korean reporters thought that Chen Hero was going to stop to be interviewed, and they were overjoyed. They took the lead in grabbing the opportunity to ask questions in a large group of reporters.
Who would have thought that Chen Hero just smiled at them, but did not stop his steps, and just walked past the Korean reporters.
"So rude, seumnida!"
"Could it be that he didn't understand, seumnigga?"
"It seems that he is not our Korean, seumnida!"
The Korean reporters were shocked and gathered together to discuss again.
When Chen Hero reached the core area of the mixed zone, he was stopped by the reporters.
"Hero! Hero, can I ask you a question?"
"No problem, ask away!" Chen Hero stopped and smiled at the reporter. Just kidding, I can't ask for more! But he obviously underestimated the enthusiasm of the reporters...
The reporters who were allowed by Chen Hero were like a reservoir with floodgates opened. All the questions were wrapped up in the滔滔洪水 *tao tao hong shui* (torrential flood), rushing out and rushing towards Chen Hero who was caught off guard.
"Is this your first official professional game?"
"The information shows that you were born in 1988, only eighteen years old this year, and your nationality is Chinese... We are really surprised... When did you join Saint Petersburg Zenit?"
"Are you really Chinese?"
"How does it feel to score a goal for the team in your first appearance?"
"I noticed that your heading performance in the game is very good, but in other aspects it is relatively average. What is the reason for this?"
"How did you join Zenit?"
"Is 'hero' your real name? As far as I know, Chinese... no, it's Eastern, there are very few people with such a name..."
All kinds of questions were thrown at Chen Hero.
Listening to Russian and English with various accents lingering in his ears, Chen Hero's head was getting bigger.
He raised his hand.
The reporters didn't understand what he meant. One by one, they quieted down and looked at him strangely.
"Sorry, my, Russian, that, not, very good, so, you... speak slowly!"
This is the first time Chen Hero, the focal point who will be chased by the media like seagulls chasing fishing boats in the future, appeared in front of the media...