The local media in Florence also paid close attention to this game.

Because this UEFA Cup was Fiorentina's first European war opportunity since returning to the Italian Serie A.

Previously, in the 05-06 season, Fiorentina had qualified for the Champions League, but that summer, the world-shocking Italian "Calciopoli" scandal was exposed. Fiorentina was implicated for suspected match-fixing, unfair competition, and sports fraud in the 04-05 season's relegation battle. The final result was that Fiorentina was penalized fifteen points at the beginning of the 06-07 season, which was the most severe penalty among the three non-relegated penalized teams, and their Champions League qualification obtained with hard work last season was also revoked.

Ironically, when the investigation results came out, Borelli, the deputy director of the Italian Football Association's investigation office, clearly stated that Juventus and AC Milan should bear the main responsibility for this Italian football scandal, while Lazio and Fiorentina had relatively lighter responsibilities.

As a result, Juventus was ordered to be relegated because of its serious and irrefutable guilt. Lazio was only deducted three points, and AC Milan, which was once thought to be relegated, was only deducted eight points. On the other hand, Fiorentina, which was considered to have the lightest guilt, was deducted fifteen points... At the beginning of the league, they were at the bottom of the standings with negative fifteen points, and they remained at the bottom for a long time.

This is the disadvantage of having no one in the imperial court...

Because of this incident, Fiorentina's return to the European arena was delayed.

But the Florentines are tenacious. Despite being deducted fifteen points at the beginning of the season, they finished fifth in the 06-07 season with fifty-eight points, qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

Although it was a year late and the level was reduced, they finally returned to Europe.

The Florentines attach great importance to this season's UEFA Cup, which is an opportunity for them to rise again.

As for Zenit Saint Petersburg, they are the biggest dark horse in this UEFA Cup so far.

This is a team from Russia, which was not taken seriously by everyone. The level of Russian football has long declined. Although CSKA Moscow won a UEFA Cup in 2005, everyone thought it was just an accident. If you really want to talk about favorites to win the championship, Zenit would definitely not be among them.

Just look at their terrible and clumsy performance in the group stage. If it weren't for their narrow victory over Everton in the last group match, they might not even have been able to get out of the group stage.

But Zenit Saint Petersburg, which entered the knockout stage, seemed to have collectively changed teams.

They first easily defeated the Spanish powerhouse Villarreal 2-0 at their home stadium. Although they lost 1-2 in the away game, they still eliminated the Yellow Submarine with a total score of 3-2.

If this game was not enough to make everyone pay attention to them, then the next battle against the traditional French powerhouse Marseille was a completely stunning blow from Zenit.

At Marseille's home stadium, they were once in desperate situation, being beaten 0-3. At the last moment, Chen Yingxiong stood up, and his golden away goal preserved hope for his team.

Then, returning to their home stadium, Zenit exploded with amazing energy, cleanly and neatly beheading the arrogant Frenchmen 2-0. Chen Yingxiong scored twice and was the best player in that game.

Was Marseille's failure an accident?

Many people do think so, after all, Marseille showed some pride and underestimated the enemy before the game. But Prandelli didn't think so.

He believes that Zenit is a strong team, and they must use the determination and fighting spirit to deal with Bayern Munich to deal with Zenit, in order to ensure that no accidents occur.

So the day before the game, the sentence he repeatedly told the players the most was: "Never underestimate the enemy, even at our home stadium!"

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Dario Dainelli, wearing the captain's armband, can guarantee to God that he really didn't underestimate the enemy, and his teammates definitely didn't underestimate the enemy either. The entire Fiorentina team did not despise the opponent in front of them.

But the opponent in front of them is celebrating a goal.

The person celebrating the goal is Arshavin, and the person who assisted him is Chen Yingxiong.

When that goal happened just now, he and Chen Yingxiong were still entangled together, adhering to the task arranged by the coach before the game - strictly guarding Chen Yingxiong.

He did it, not letting Chen Yingxiong turn around.

But who knew that Chen Yingxiong didn't turn around at all, he directly distributed the football to Arshavin who suddenly came in, and then Arshavin pretended to break through but suddenly kicked a long shot. The football went into the lower right corner of the goal from eighteen meters away. Goalkeeper Frey didn't have time to react at all. It was a surprise, and the football went into the goal.

In the nineteenth minute of the first half, Fiorentina, playing at home, was behind!

This made the Fiorentina fans feel stunned, with a bit of a "nowhere to reason" feeling in it...

Zenit's previous offense didn't show any particularly threatening signs. Fiorentina, relying on their home advantage, was playing well, and the fans' cheers were louder than ever. It looked exciting, as if a goal could appear at any time.

Goals did appear at any time, but the scoring side was not the Fiorentina that everyone liked to see, but... Zenit Saint Petersburg.

They really didn't underestimate the enemy...

Fiorentina captain Dainelli shouted injustice in his heart.

They were just a little unaccustomed to Zenit's style of play and Chen Yingxiong's style of play...

Just now, the two of them collided fiercely as soon as they came up. Chen Yingxiong took the initiative to find Dainelli, which surprised Dainelli himself - shouldn't forwards generally avoid defenders? They were afraid of being entangled by defenders, and wished they could be as far away from these defenders as possible.

Why is this person doing the opposite?

He didn't know that if there were really no defenders to defend Chen Yingxiong at all, he wouldn't know how to play.

Now he plays football by making full use of his physical advantages, so naturally he has to actively seek physical contact.

Anyway, his dribbling is not good, and his ball control is clumsy. It is simply a fantasy to use foot skills to get rid of defenders. It is better to use his body...

Dainelli never thought that anyone would play football like this, and he was completely unaccustomed to this style of play.

Although Prandelli had told them what Zenit's characteristics were and what Chen Yingxiong's characteristics were, how much can you understand by just watching the video? This football thing needs to be in personal contact to have a deeper impression.

Now Dainelli has been in personal contact and found that the number 99 in front of him is more impactful, stronger, and more... barbaric than he thought!

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Let's not care about how they fell behind, whether it was underestimating the enemy or being unaccustomed to it. Anyway, Fiorentina is now one goal behind at their home stadium.

The situation is very unfavorable for them, and they must equalize the score as soon as possible. Don't think about things like the opponent getting an away goal. Thinking about it won't make this away goal disappear. What Fiorentina has to do now is not let the opponent score again, and at the same time try their best to score...

After all, they have the advantage of playing at home. After a brief moment of panic after losing the ball, Fiorentina quickly recovered.

They began to organize their offense.

Their football has the obvious imprint of Latin football, focusing on foot skills and ground coordination. It is completely different from the current Zenit Saint Petersburg, which has Chen Yingxiong.

Because of Chen Yingxiong, Zenit's style of play has become a bit bold, focusing on physical confrontation, and it has a feeling of using strength to overcome skill.

Using their home advantage, Fiorentina equalized the score before the end of the first half. The scorer was their number ten, Adrian Mutu.

When Mutu scored, cheers of elation finally rang out at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

The Fiorentina players celebrated very happily, but the Zenit people did not feel lost or frustrated because of the goal. They have already scored an away goal, which is considered half of the task successfully completed.

For this game, Advocaat cautiously requested that the team be able to draw with their opponent in the away game, and it would be even better if they could get an away goal while drawing with their opponent.

Now that they have an away goal and the score is tied, it would be perfect if it continued like this until the end of the game.

But Chen Yingxiong didn't think so.

If we can win the game, why not win? If we seek a draw in the away game, what if we lose the game? Like the last round against Marseille, lose 1:3 in the away game, and then hope for a miracle to happen when we return to the home stadium?

Although he is the key figure in the miracle, even he himself feels that this is too unreliable. One big reversal is okay, two big reversals are okay, three, four, five times... aren't you afraid of aesthetic fatigue?

Moreover... too many reversals damage character!

If you lose all your character at this time, what should you do at the critical moment?

This is what Chen Yingxiong thought, and this is what he did.

At the beginning of the second half, he was constantly looking for opportunities to score.

Dainelli was a little uncomfortable, because this guy took the initiative to find him for physical confrontation every time.

In terms of body alone, I am definitely not as good as him... but I have skills and experience, why should I play body with you!

He reacted.

So the next time he attacked, when Chen Yingxiong wanted to use his body to confront Dainelli, the opponent took a step back, Chen Yingxiong leaned back into the air, lost his center of gravity, and lost the ball under his feet!

A burst of laughter rang out from the stands of the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Chen Yingxiong lost a lot of face, but he was not ashamed or angry, nor was he blushing with embarrassment. He just got up from the ground, patted his butt, shook his head, and turned around and ran back.

"Well done, Dario!" Dainelli's partner, Gamberini, applauded the captain.

Dainelli gave him a thumbs up in return. He felt that he had found a way to deal with Chen Yingxiong.

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PS, I updated before dinner, thank you for your monthly tickets!

You are awesome!