Hero of the Penalty Area

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five

When the Marseilles team arrived in St. Petersburg, the media reported their arrival in St. Petersburg at the airport. The French media reported a sense of superiority. When they were talking about this matter, they had basically put Zenit St. Petersburg. As a group of dead people.

But we can't say that they are arrogant...because the situation is indeed infinitely close to what is favorable for Marseille.

Marseille is now two goals ahead, with a total score of 3:1. This score is very good. Anyone who has such a score in the first round will feel that the winner is in his hands.

But the players of Zenit St. Petersburg just feel unhappy and unwilling.

Different from the pessimistic view of the outside world, they still have confidence internally because of Chen Yingxiong's away goal.

It's better to miss only two goals than three goals.

This week, Ed Wo Carter has been practicing another tactic, which is to let Chen Yingxiong serve as the tactical center instead of the scoring center. Let him attract the defensive attention of Marseille and give Krzakov, Arshavin, Domingos and others a chance to score goals.

This is at the expense of Chen Yingxiong's scoring ability. But who caused his scoring ability to drop sharply after losing the support of the two wings?

Ed Wo Carter now needs the team to win, he can't care about Chen Yingxiong's feelings. So even though he knew that Chen Yingxiong would definitely have an idea, he could only insist on doing so.

Of course Chen Yingxiong had an idea... but he didn't show it. He knows that the team's performance is more important at this time. If he can't make it to the quarter-finals, his performance will not help.

So Ed Wocart asked him to play as a tactical center, and he unexpectedly did not object.

It's just that no one knows the little abacus in his heart...

The starting lineups of the two sides in this game are not much different from the previous round.

They all sent the strongest lineup they could send. From this point of view, Marseille coach Eric Gerets still values ​​this game very much, and is not as arrogant as the French media.

But he values ​​it, his players may not value it.

Before the start of the game, in the home team's locker room, Ed Wocart was cheering up the players and improving their fighting spirit and morale.

"Our goal is definitely not to go home to the UEFA Cup semi-finals. We have to go further. As for how far we go, it depends on you! Actually I think we lost to Marseille 1 in the last game: 3 is a good thing, let you know that the UEFA Cup is not as simple as you think. Starting from the knockout, every game is a tough battle. I don’t know if we can reach the finals, but we can make every game Play as a final, now, enjoy this final!"

The reporters from both sides stood or sat in the media booth, discussing the game before it started.

"I think Marseille can at least enter the semifinals..."

"This team is in great shape and it is not impossible to reach the finals!"

"Who will your opponent be in the next round?"

"The ghost knows, let's see the result of the lottery."

French journalists are already discussing their opponents after Marseille.

The St. Petersburg and Chinese media are worried.

"The situation is very serious... Will Zenit have a chance to come back after being two goals behind?"

"Zenit fans said they will fight the team to the last minute, but I sincerely hope that the last minute will not come too soon!"

"Pray for a miracle!"

"Is it true that the best result of Chinese players in the UEFA Cup is the top sixteen?"

"Although this result is already the best in history, I am really not reconciled!"

The emotions and momentum shown by the reporters of the two sides are completely different, which is in line with everyone's attitude towards the game before the game.

The home team is not favored, while the away team is very popular.

It's not that St. Petersburg will lose at home, but that Marseille will be able to score a goal, which will offset Zenit's advantage in an away goal. At that time, Zenit will not only score desperately and beat Marseille in the total score. There is no choice. But they have to beat Marseille 4:1 at their home court, which is too difficult.

Therefore, the media in St. Petersburg before the game have analyzed that the most difficult aspect of Zenit's game is not in winning two goals, but in how to prevent the opponent from scoring. Marseille's offensive strength is not weak, and since Skrtel left, Zenit's defense has dropped a notch. Skrtel is young, strong, outstanding in air defense, and relatively comprehensive. He has always been the core force in Zenit's defense. Once he is gone, the guards who remain are either too old or too young and lack the backbone.

The three **** easily filled by Marseille from the last game are proof.

If the defense is fully recovered, we can hold it, but how can we score a goal like this?

So the challenge in this game is that you have to make a choice, do you choose to attack or defend? In order to advance, you must attack, but in order to advance you can't drop the ball.

Anyway, the reporters in St. Petersburg and China want to break their heads and don't know what to do.

This dilemma is the difficulty of this game.

After the start of the game, Marseille did not attack aggressively. Their tactics were slightly conservative. Gretz asked the team to focus on defense instead of offense. This is a matter of course. They have two goals ahead, and no more offenses are leading. Just a few balls, but not conceding a ball can guarantee them a smooth promotion with this score. Which one is cheaper? Which is less risky?

A coach like Gretz doesn't know.

Marseille contracted the defense and looked like they were going to fight back. This made Zenit's attack more difficult.

In the past, Zenit was not afraid of this kind of positional warfare, because they had a powerful center like Chen Yingxiong in their team, and a few headers were enough to poke into the opponent's penalty area.

Not today. He lost the support of the cross from the wing. His role is to make the ball for his teammates, rather than heading the goal himself.

And Marseille placed heavy troops in the penalty area, trying to push him out of the penalty area. Everyone knows that the farther away such a pure center is from the goal, the lower the threat, because they are not good at dribbling and pass the ball at a very average level. They can do nothing except for shooting goals, and even the level of long shots is not flattering. So this kind of center forwards are less threatened from the goal.

Chen Yingxiong's long-range shot is very good, but Marseille has a way to defend him, that is, not to let him turn around-let him always turn his back to the offensive direction, no matter how good your long-range shot, do you have a chance to use it?

In addition to making a wall for his teammates, what other use does the center can't turn around?

Judging from the first round of the game, Gretz has already made it clear that Chen Yingxiong is a center with poor turning ability and poor backhand ball skills.

This center is useless except for the header.

He really understands why Ed Wocart would use such a person as an offensive arrow, maybe it is still useful in the Russian domestic league? But this is the UEFA Cup, more than ten times stronger than the Russian Super League.

Being mixed in the domestic league does not mean that you can take it all in the UEFA Cup.

Gretz is very careful in tactics. He feels that these arrangements should be enough to freeze Chen Yingxiong. As long as Chen Yingxiong can't shoot, then he can pay attention to defending the shots of other Zenit players. This is much simpler.

Ed Wo Carter’s task for Chen Yingxiong was to play for his teammates, and Chen Yingxiong did the same at the beginning. He passed a few **** to his teammates-most of the time with his head, after all, he is more proficient with his head than his feet.

But the effect is not very good.

His teammates were also very tightly defended.

Marseille's defensive strategy is very simple-it is to stick to the penalty area, I don't care if you are Arshavin, Domingos, or Krzakov, anyway, you enter the penalty area, and you are surrounded by our Marseilles. Want to score? It's as difficult as climbing! You won't even let you finish shooting!

If you are outside the penalty area, you should keep the pressure properly and prevent the opponent from having a long shot in a place that is too dangerous. Thirty meters away, the defense is very lax. Zenit is allowed to fall back and forth, but he can't pass directly.

Ed Wocart can see it too, he turned his head and looked at the next door, Marseille's head coach Gretz is really well prepared. The confidence of the French media is also well-founded...

How do you score goals just like this?

Zenit fought fiercely on the scene in order to score a goal and gain an advantage.

In the ninth minute, Denisov, the head of the game, received a yellow card for a foul.

He didn't mean to apologize at all, but stared fiercely at the Marseille players.

Of course, Sana from Marseille also stared at Denisov with the same fierce eyes-you **** dare to move my player, don't you want to get mixed up?

In the fourteenth minute, Sana shoveled Denisov to the ground, and the two sides also had a skirmish. In the end, the referee showed the yellow card to Sana.

In this conflict, Chen Yingxiong, who loves to join in the fun, did not rush in to fight the injustice for his leader. He was thinking about the problem.

Whether it's a header ferry or a foot pass, he can only make a wall. Judging from the current situation, the role of this wall is very limited. The team still can't score.

The little abacus in his heart came to life, and he decided to try what he had done in the dungeon the night before.

The captain of Marseille in this game, known as the "Marseille Killing Machine", did not play his best defensive midfielder position, but a central defender. His task is to contain Chen Yingxiong and prevent him from turning around easily.

Lorik Sana, who is 1.86 meters tall, has the height of a central defender. He could have played multiple positions, including central midfielder, midfielder and central defender. Therefore, a temporary guest central defender is not considered to be a duck to the shelves.

Under his stare, it was difficult for Chen Yingxiong to turn around.

This is a very difficult opponent, Chen Yingxiong knew about it before. His movements are fierce, swift, and clean-fouls are committed cleanly and cleanly. And the most important thing is that his defense is very aggressive, full of momentum, and it can scare many people. Look at his retaliatory foul against Denisov just now, you can see it. He seems to be heading towards your ankles and knees with every foot, and he won't stop until he breaks your leg.

But now he has to make his own counterattack.

When Chen Yingxiong took the ball with his back again, Sana posted it.

This time, Chen Yingxiong did not pass the football to his teammates nearby, because he knew that this was only a pour back and forth in the opponent’s 30-meter area. Marseilles strictly guarded the pass and wanted to pass a threatening ball. very hard.

After catching the ball, he stomped the football under his feet and leaned back abruptly.

Players like Sana would not run away when facing a physical confrontation. Seeing Chen Yingxiong leaning towards him, he greeted him instead.

The 1.86-meter Sana and the 1.92-meter Chen Yingxiong collided!

There was a bang.

Sana gritted his teeth.

Before he came back to his senses, he suddenly felt Chen Yingxiong's body bowing forward again... followed by his hips arching up.

It happened to hit his lower abdomen...

After being caught off guard, Sana's lower abdomen tightened, and only felt the sadness coming from under his crotch-he was hurting.

After being hit by Chen Yingxiong's buttocks in the lower abdomen, Sana's painful cold sweat oozes out, and he falls directly on his back.

The battle between the killing machine and the giant bear. In the first round, the giant bear wins!

Just when Chen Yingxiong was about to turn around and shoot, he heard the referee's whistle!

foul!

Chen Yingxiong opened his hands and clenched them into fists.

Almost!

But he also saw hope, just fight like this! Let others hurt!