Hero of the Penalty Area

Chapter 156 The Decisive Battle in the Air

The influence of the UEFA Cup cannot be compared with the UEFA Champions League, but it is still an attractive event for teams in the smaller leagues.

After all, the UEFA Cup champion is also considered a European champion.

The UEFA Cup will also be broadcast live to the whole of Europe and even the whole world. The influence is not the same as the second-tier European league like the Russian Super League.

When the picture of Villarreal's team coming down from the gangway of the plane appeared on the TV screen, Chen Yingxiong felt excited.

It was a natural reaction of a giant bear that had just awakened from hibernation when it smelled the scent of food.

February 13th, match day. Heavy snow is flying.

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

"Sure enough, good weather!" Krzakov said.

For the Russian team, there is no better weather than a game with heavy snow.

Because Villarreal from warm Spain certainly cannot adapt to football matches in this climate.

In fact, this has been confirmed since Villarreal just arrived in St. Petersburg.

The head coach of Villarreal Chilean Pellegrini (manuel Pellegrini) is complaining about the weather.

Now the "captain" of the submarine was frowning at the snowflakes flying outside the window.

Zenit, who is playing at home, has the home field advantage. They are more adaptable to this weather and the situation in this kind of weather than us.

The game was furious. Although Pellegrini felt that Zenit was far inferior to them in terms of strength alone, he didn't want to risk this away game. He decided to defend the most away game.

Giuseppe Rossi saw a few fans outside through the car window, with their upper bodies naked, waving the blue and white scarf of St. Petersburg Zenit in the snow, singing something loudly.

He couldn't help shivering.

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

"Russians who drink too much...all like this." The well-informed Frenchman, Robert Pires, glanced out the window, then closed his gaze back.

The heavy snow did not freeze the enthusiasm of the Russian fans. The fans of Zenit St. Petersburg have lined up to enter the stadium since the afternoon, and they can even see shirtless people cheering loudly-these people have just drunk a lot of vodka... …Every year in Russia, many people freeze to death in winter. A large part of these people are drunk people lying on the street at night because they drank too much. As a result, the next day...

They whistled and raised their middle fingers at Villarreal's bus outside the stadium, which was not friendly at all.

When Zenit's bus approached, they cheered.

This is the home court!

"Remember, you must fully warm up! Warm up is more important than the game! If anyone is injured because of not fully warmed up, but will not get any sympathy!" Assistant coach Kur Porter shouted in the locker room .

At the same time the players are changing their clothes, ready to go out to warm up.

"It's okay! There is not enough wine to warm up, haha!" Denisov joked in the locker room. The outdoor temperature at the time of the game was minus ten degrees, and it was really difficult to play in such a temperature.

Potter glared at him and didn't say anything. Denisov was the pistachio in the dressing room, he knew it, this man was so unconcealed.

Chen Yingxiong felt cold, and he put on a close-fitting thermal underwear in his jersey. This kind of underwear is very light and thin, but very warm, using high-tech fabrics, can absorb the water vapor generated by the body and generate heat.

Last season, Chen Yingxiong wore such intimate clothing to compete, and it was really warm.

When the players from both sides were warming up outside, Chen Yingxiong and his friends did not forget to pay attention to their opponents in this game while warming up.

"Look at how they shrank their necks, haha!" Denisov was very happy that his opponent was slumped in this weather.

Chen Yingxiong followed him to laugh at his opponent heartlessly.

"I really doubt that they have any fighting capacity..." Krzakov also pouted.

The Villarreal players noticed that there were so many people in the opposing half. They got together and pointed at them, not laughing.

Obviously, they were laughing at the way they were shivering with cold necks now...

Although a group of people kept trembling, they still stared back fiercely-they definitely couldn't lose in their momentum!

This is how long this momentum didn't last, it vented immediately...

"It's so, so cold..."

"The weather forecast says...speaking today...today is ten degrees below zero! I think and feel that the game should be cancelled directly in such weather and weather!"

A group of people were fighting with their teeth, and they couldn't make sense.

After the warm-up, the players from both sides returned to the locker room. The Villarreal players slipped back to the locker room almost at the speed of light, and they were frightened outside. Somehow there is air conditioning in the dressing room.

Ed Wocart waited for his players to come back in the locker room. He has the last few words to say to everyone.

"Villarreal is a strong team, so the key round of the 16th final is today. As long as we can establish an advantage on our home court, we have a great chance of qualifying. Therefore, I don't accept anything other than victory. Any result other than that will not work in a tie. You must win, and if possible, try to win as many goals as possible!"

Pellegrini has studied the video of Everton's home game against Zenit St. Petersburg. He knows that Zenit has a very good high center forward-the No. 99 hero.

The center forward has an excellent header and a long shot ability. Can't be underestimated.

After the game, Moyes also admitted that the reason why he would lose at home was because he underestimated the hero. Of course I can't make the same mistakes again.

So he put a lot of effort in air defense in this game.

The first is to arrange two central defenders with excellent headers in the penalty area. The 1.92-meter French defender Pascal·cygan partnered with the 1.82-meter Argentine defender Fabricio Fuentes (fabricio·fuentes). The two headers were excellent, despite his height. A little short, but Xigan's height can still compete with the opponent's hero. Originally the team’s main central defender was Diego Godin (diego Godin), but this young central defender is good everywhere-the style of the ball is stable, the position is good, the timing of the kick is good, and the prediction is very good. Good...but the body is too thin, and people often turn their backs on the back of a strong center. In this game, the opponent of the yellow submarine's back line happens to be a strong center, which is very savage at first glance. Pellegrini had no choice but to put him on the bench and use the stronger Fuentes.

In addition to arranging a good header to defeat Chen Yingxiong in the air, he also asked the two wingers not to easily give Zenit the chance of assists from the wing and then cross.

With such a heavy snowfall in this game, it is definitely impossible for the opponent to follow the skill of the foot. Playing more golf is the smart choice.

Therefore, Villarreal does not intend to stick to the Spanish technical and tactical style. Pellegrini made Joseba Llorente (Joseba Llorente) the starting field, the center is 1.84 meters tall and good at headers. He was at the forefront alone.

Behind him are three offensive midfielders, with Cani in the middle, Spanish international Santiago Cazorla on the right, and 21-year-old Chilean demon Marti on the left. Yas Fernandez (matias fernandez).

Cazzola and Fernandez are both players who have the ability to break through the wing and have the ability to cross. They are responsible for delivering shells to Llorente in the penalty area.

In the position of the defensive midfielder, Pellegrini arranged captain Marcos Senna and the 23-year-old Spanish midfielder Bruno (bruno).

The two full-backs are Angel on the right, and Spain international Joan Capdevila is on the left.

This is the starting lineup of the "Yellow Submarine" in this game.

4231, the core of this lineup is a solid defense and a flank advance.

Pellegrini took great pains to curb Chen Yingxiong's performance.

With such careful arrangements and preparations, he doesn't worry much about Chen Yingxiong now. What he is worried about is that this weather may cause some accidents...

Nizette's starting lineup is not much different from before, that is, the center back position has changed. Lombartes received a red card in the previous game against Everton. This game could not be played. Ed Wocart sent two "old" central defenders combination-Eric Hagen and Krizanaki .

The key weakness of these two guards is their slow turning speed, and they were not allowed to start in the game against Everton. But this problem does not exist now, because the university is flying, he expects Pellegrini will not send a speed forward like Giuseppe Rossi and Nihat (Nihat). Because they don't know how to cooperate on the ground, the straight pass will rarely come in handy because of the terrible ground. He will use Lorient, a high center with a height of 1.84 meters. The football is mainly flying around in the air.

So turning around slowly is not a big weakness, as long as it can be air defense.

The reporters in the media booth had already gotten the starting roster of both sides for this game. They were shivering with cold in the media booth without air-conditioning and heating, but they still discussed the starting roster of both sides enthusiastically.

"Not surprisingly, both sides want to play high-altitude ball!"

"In the air, today will be a fiercely contested area between the two sides. I don't know, how many times will the air defense alarm sound at Petrovsky Stadium today?"

A group of Chinese reporters laughed.

These people have been reporting games at the Petrovsky Stadium for the past season and have become accustomed to air raid sirens. At first, I felt a little sad, but later it turned out to be very beautiful, just like the sound of nature.

The music that was playing on the stadium radio suddenly stopped.

There was a burst of cheers on the scene, and the reporters who were discussing the starting lineup in the media also stopped, and they turned their attention to the exit of the passage one after another.

There, players from both sides walked into the court under the leadership of the referee!

The game is about to start!